Allahabad Bank on expansion spree in South India

Public sector lender Allahabad Bank is on an expansion spree in South India in order to have a significant presence in all important business centres, a top official of the bank said today.

Speaking to mediapersons here, bank's Chairman and Managing Director K R Kamath said that focusing on Karnataka and Kerala, the bank plans to open a zonal office in Bangalore and 10 more branches in Karnataka and two branches in Kerala in the next financial year.

The bank has a network of over 2,230 branches and has an offshore branch at Hong Kong besides a representative office in China, he said.

 

The total business level crossed Rs 1,25,000 crore as on September 30, 2008, consisting of deposits of Rs 73,500 crore and gross credit of Rs 51,500 crore, he said.

While the gross NPA was at 1.93 per cent, the net NPA to net advance declined to 0.85 per cent at September end, he said, adding that the capital adequacy ratio of 11.46 per cent as on September 2008, was above the stipulated norm of 9 per cent.

The bank has gone for full computerisation and had installed 211 ATMs at strategic business locations. The bank has tied up with other public sector banks making it possible for the customers of the bank to access over 15,000 ATMs spread across the country, he said.

The bank has entered into Corporate Marketing arrangements with Life Insurance Corporation of India, Universal Sompo General Insurance, a newly formed non-life insurance company in which the bank holds 30 per cent stake, and five reputed mutual funds for cross selling their products over the counters.