It's difficult to do banking business in US, says SBI chief

SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya today said it is becoming "very difficult" to operate in the US because of the "compliance requirements" put in that country.
The country's largest lender has a few branches in the US and a subsidiary in California.
"What we have found in the recent past, specially after financial crisis, is that the kind of compliance requirements that are being put in (in US) are way above what should be required for us for a small plain vanilla operations.
"As a result, in the last three years we have increased the back office and compliance positions by 300 per cent and reduce the front office positions by 30 per cent. With that kind of requirement, it is no longer commercially viable to have these operations," she said.

Bhattacharya was speaking at a panel discussion on "The US-India partnership and their global challenges", organised by SBI and Asia Society here this evening.
SBI has operation in California for the last 30 years.

She said the bank has been meeting with US regulators and people who matter to try to find out whether America no longer wants such businesses or whether this is something to do with their banking system.
She said there is no problem with the watchdog at the State-level (in California), but it is the national regulator who has different view.
"It has become very very difficult (to operate in US in current circumstances). We really don't know how long this will go on and whether it will be possible to have a small operation," Bhattacharya added.

Other participants in the discussion included former US Ambassador to India Frank Wisner, India's ex-Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Godrej & Boyce Chairman Jamshyd Godrej.
Wisner said unless India puts in place liberal trade arrangements, it will be very difficult to achieve the objectives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative.
"No nation that has achieved manufacturing growth- not China, not Korea, not Japan and not US - has done so without having liberal open trading arrangements. India has chosen more protected path and it is very important for India to look at a trade-led growth strategy going forward."

Echoing similar sentiments, Rao said, "we need to work for closer integration of trade.