BoI to acquire Indonesia's PT Bank ; set up life insurance JV with Dai-Ichi

Our Banking Bureau
19 February 2007

BoI will have an equity stake of 51 per cent while Dai-Ichi and Union Bank will hold equity stakes of 26 per cent and 23 per cent respectively, M Balachandran, chairman and managing director of Bank of India, said.

BoI has entered into a strategic alliance with Union Bank of India and Infrastructure Development Finance Company for loan syndication, international business, cash management, cheque collection and training.

The bank, meanwhile, has launched an online share-trading scheme. BoI, as a part of its centenary celebrations, promoted a trust, ABHAY, to offer credit-counseling services free of cost. The bank has 14 mobile ATMs and it will shortly open a mobile ATM in Vidarbha, he added.

Bank of India is planning to set up a joint venture in Zambia. The bank has also received government permission to open a branch in Dhaka. At present, the bank has two outlets in China and it also is planning to have representative offices in Belgium, Dubai, Doha, Canada and South Africa, Balachandran said.

Bank of India, a nationalized bank recorded a net profit of Rs 676 crore for the 9 month period ended December 2006 against Rs 449 crore as of December 2005.

Announcing this at a press conference in Bangalore, Balachandran said the bank has recorded an year-to-year growth of 51 per cent while the operating profit has improved to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 1,071 crore in the year-earlier period. The bank's net interest income rose to Rs 2,473 crore from Rs 1,794 crore, he added.