Foreign players eyeing local banks: KPMG

Identifying Asia-Pacific as a hot-spot for acquiring private banks, management consultants KPMG on Wednesday said global financial giants are keenly eyeing Indian banks for establishing their footprints.

KPMG India's executive director, Vikram Utamsingh, yesterday while unveiling a report on private banks said that significant rise in wealth creation rate in the past decade is being keenly observed by the global players.

Several of them have already indicated interest in entering this market. Although the Asia-Pacific region has shown growth potential, he said "India is still a nascent market compared to its Asia-Pacific neighbours."

"The emergence of retail finance, asset management, mutual funds and wealth management are signs of a rapidly growing Indian market. While the market will remain fragmented in the short term with many banks establishing their footprints, this will eventually give way to consolidation," he added.

The report, compiled after a research on 186 private banks worldwide, said "a third of private banks have a strategy that calls for an acquisition in the next three years.The geographic hot spot for acquisition is the Asia Pacific region."

The research also states that India has a high growth potential along with China and south-east Asian countries considering the increasing number of high networth individuals.

KPMG, however, said despite the entry of global players, acquisitions by domestic players would continue to dominate acquisition activities.