Despite downturn, PNB in UK doubles deposits

Despite economic downturn, four branches of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) in Britain doubled their deposits in the six months ending September 2009, official sources here said.

Punjab National Bank (International) Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of PNB, India.

PNBIL started operations in the UK in May 2007 with two branches in London and Southall, and later opened two more branches in Leicester and Birmingham, which have large minorities of people of Indian origin.

Mukesh Khurana, manager of the PNB branch in Leicester, said that PNBIL’s account base in the UK has increased from 5500 on 31 March 2009 to over 10,000 on 30 September 2009. He said: “During this period, customer deposits have more than doubled from $146 million to $304 million thus registering a growth of 108 per cent. Customer advances have reached $436 million. With a capital base of $78 million and balance sheet size of $674 million, the bank has posted pre-tax profit of $3.16 million during the half year”.

The encouraging results were reviewed by M V Tanksale, Executive Director, Punjab National Bank during his visit here last week at meetings with S R Sharma, MD, M S Nayak, ED, and other senor officers of PNBIL.

According to Sharma, the healthy growth had been possible on the strength of strong brand equity of its parent, PNBIL’s technology based products (like Chip & PIN based Debit Card, Internet Banking and On-Line Deposit/Remittance products), competitive interest rates and customer centric approach.

PNBIL has followed the concept of Relationship Banking, which has enabled it to expand its customer base in such a short span of time.

Remittances to India remains a major attraction for NRIs due to attractive exchange rates, low remittance charges (free transfer of funds to PNB accounts) and same day transfer facility.