Bnp Paribas In Talks To Sell Retail Assets

BNP Paribas India is in talks with a clutch of foreign and private sector banks, including StanChart, HSBC, HDFC Bank and another private sector bank, to sell its retail assets.

The bank has a retail asset portfolio of around Rs 50 crore. This includes loans against shares, auto loans and personal loans. The bank had a retail deposit base of around Rs 125 crore, with most of it being savings and current accounts. However, sources said the bank is looking at selling only the retail assets. BNP Paribas officials declined to comment.

The bank today announced that it has infused an additional capital of Rs 80 crore into its Indian operations. Bank officials said around 75 per cent of the amount will go into Tier-I capital with the remaining going into Tier II. The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the bank after the infusion of capital will go up to over 10 per cent. The CAR of the bank as on March 31,2001 was at 9.92 per cent.

The bank had last month given marching orders to around 90 employees, including Ujal Thakkar, head of retail banking, and Rama Sridhar, head of distribution. This follows the bank's decision to curtail retail banking operations in the country. Most of the employees who had been given marching orders were from the retail operations -- both on the liabilities and the asset side. The bank had a total retail staff of around 120.

BNP Paribas management has decided to revamp the retail banking model in the light of the changing market environment and regulations and exit from the retail banking operations while concentrating on the corporate and private banking business.

The bank had started its retail operations recently and a soft launch was done in December 2001. The bank had around 15,000 customers and is present in eight cities.

At present, the bank provides working capital loans, trade finance, cash management, foreign exchange and specialised finance for its customers.

In India, it operates in 8 cities. Globally, it has a presence in 85 countries and is one of the largest banks in Euroland in terms of assets. It is also the biggest commercial bank in France.