Andhra Bank, BoB, L&G Group in insurance JV

The public sector Andhra Bank would launch its insurance business in association with Bank of Baroda and Legal & General Group, a London-based financial services company before the end of 2008-09.

“Andhra Bank has already formed a joint venture with the Bank of Baroda and Legal & General Group to launch the insurance business. All formalities in this regard have been completed and the insurance business both in life and non-life segments is expected to be launched before the end of the current fiscal”, T Ravindranath, one of the directors of Andhra Bank told Business Standard.

Andhra Bank has gained experience in insurance and mutual fund sectors as it had already sold the mutual fund products of various companies. The bank has tie-ups with the mutual fund companies like Reliance, Kotak Mahindra, Fedility Mutual Fund and Birla Sun life Mutual Fund for sale of their products.

The Hyderabad-based bank has also entered into a MoU with two other PSU banks- Bank of Baroda and Indian Overseas Bank for forming a subsidiary in Malaysia. The bank has signed a MoU with Maruti Suzuki Limited to offer finance for its vehicles, said Ravindranath.

The bank which currently has a total business volume of about Rs 97,000 crore aims to enter the mid-size category of banks in the country by achieving a total business of Rs 1,00,000 crore by the end of March this year.

“Two districts adopted by the bank- Ganjam in Orissa and Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh have achieved 100 per cent financial inclusion. The bank has already launched the Smart Card Scheme in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh on a pilot basis and the scheme would be launched soon in Ganjam district”, he claimed.