Dhanlaxmi Bank buys 15% stake in Destimoney Securities

Dhanlaxmi Bank will acquire 15 per cent stake in Destimoney Securities for Rs 13 crore, a top company official said today.

"We will acquire a 15 per cent stake in Destimoney Securities to provide online broking, a new initiative from our side," the bank's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Bipin Kabra told PTI here today.

Destimoney Securities is a 100-per cent subsidiary of Destimoney Enterprises, a financial services provider and an advisory company owned and controlled by PE firm New Silk Route.

The total cost of this stake will be around Rs 13 crore, Kabra said, adding, "our retail customers can benefit from Destimoney Securities' online capital market services. The synergy with Destimoney is expected to increase our overall CASA (current account, savings account) deposits."

 

The bank will also announce its foray into the asset management services business "in a month or so", Kabra said.

The lender's net profit in Q2 FY 11 declined to Rs 1.62 crore as against Rs 6.26 crore in the year-ago period on account of a one-time payment of bonus to employees and a higher provisioning overall of Rs 8-9 crore, he said.

Total income in the reporting quarter rose to Rs 229 crore, as against Rs 151 crore in the year-ago period.

Net interest margin rose to 2.4 per cent as against 1.9 per cent in the year-ago period, while gross non-performing assets (NPA) declined to 1.26 per cent from 1.73 per cent and net NPA to 0.71 per cent from 0.86 per cent in the year-ago period.

The bank would raise funds, most likely in Q4, but details in this regard were yet to be finalised, the CFO said.