The life insurance joint venture between Union Bank of India, Bank of India and Japanese company Dai Ichi Mutual Life Insurance is expected to be operational by April 2007. | |
| The MOU for the joint venture was signed recently. |
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| Union Bank holds 23 per cent stake in the venture while Bank of India holds 51 per cent stake and Dai Ichi Mutual Life holds 26 per cent, which is the cap on ownership of overseas partners in insurance ventures. |
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| The venture participants would shortly seek Irda's approval for starting operations. The approval is expected by April following which operations would start, Union Bank of India General Manager S C Sinha said. |
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| Union Bank hopes the venture would add value to the shareholders' wealth and provide long-term avenue for income growth to the bank by way of sales commission on the products sold in the branches, he said. |
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| "The product innovation in insurance tailored to banks' requirements shall help boost the sale of banking products as well," he said. |
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| Meanwhile, Union Bank is planning to take the total number of branches in the country to 2,200 by the end of the current fiscal from 2120 at present.The bank would have 307 branches in the east by the end of current fiscal. |
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| "We are planning to bring all the branches of the bank under the core banking system by the end of 2007," he said on the sidelines of a branch opening ceremony here. |
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| Union Bank is targeting Rs 1,60,000 crore business by the end of the current fiscal, representing 25 per cent year-on-year growth. The bank is also aiming at a deposit growth of Rs 91,000 crore, representing 20 per cent growth and advances growth of 25 per cent at Rs 69,000 crore. |
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| "The small and medium enterprises (SMEs), housing and priority sectors would be the growth drivers during the fiscal," Sinha said. |
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| The bank would start central clearing system for faster clearance of cheques in Kolkata. The system is already in place in Mumbai and Delhi. |
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| The bank has no overseas branches, but plans to set up set up one each in Hong Kong and Doha. The bank is also planning to have representative offices at Shanghai and Dubai. |
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