Deutsche Bank Aims To Increase Presence

Deutsche Bank, the largest financial institution in Germany and one of the largest in the world, hopes to double its branch network in India by the year 2000. This is subject to necessary clearances from the finance ministry.

The new branches the bank proposes to set up will be at Chennai, Pune, Baroda and Hyderabad. Another centre has also been planned, but the bank has not yet decided on it.

Deutsche Bank now has branches in Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Calcutta. The Calcutta branch was formally inaugurated by the governor of West Bengal, K V Raghunatha Reddy, yesterday.

Speaking to Business Standard, Juergen Fitschen, chief executive (corporate & institutional banking) for the Asia Pacific region, who was in the city for the inauguration of the Calcutta branch said, We are focusing on bringing in state-of-the-art technology to build a strong platform for intra-country cash flows. We will also assist in infrastructure project financing.

Of Deutsche banks corporate banking customer base, local corporate houses account for 60-80 per cent, while multinationals operating in India constitute the rest. Nearly one half of the multinational accounts with bank are either from German companies or firms with a German background. Deutsche Bank has 627 corporate borrowing accounts country-wide at present. Speaking at a press conference earlier, Simon Murray, executive chairman for the Asia-Pacific region said, India is our largest profit centre in Asia and we will continue to provide traditional services with state-of-the-art technology. Deutsche Bank now has a prime lending rate of 17.25 per cent with a maximum spread of four per cent. With the Reserve Bank of India having announced the second tranche of cash reserve ratio cuts, the bank is reviewing the market before deciding on a cut in its lending rate structure.

The bank has a global network of over 2,400 offices in more than 50 countries, employing about 74,000 staff who serve a client base of 85 lakh. In the first half of 1996, Deutsche bank recorded a net income of $769 million, while its total assets amounted to $563.2 billion. In India, the bank employs more than 700 people and had assets of over Rs 2,500 crore at the end of 1996.

The Indian operations of the bank, however, had a paid-up capital of only Rs 20 lakh, with reserves and surplus standing at Rs 252.34 crore on March 31, 1996.