Syndicate Bank’s London branch records 97% growth in biz; 3 steps to look forward to

SK Jain: Syndicate Bank CMD

IN A major achievement, public sector lender Syndicate Bank's business in its London branch grew by 97.53 percent from Rs 29,248 crore for the quarter ending September 30, 2012 to Rs 57,773 crore for the quarter ending September 30, 2013. Advances at this foreign branch increased by 92.17 percent from Rs 16,997 crore to Rs 25,110 crore on year-on-year basis. Total deposits at the branch increased by...

104 percent to Rs 25,110 crore compared to from Rs 12,251 crore last year. It was by no means a small feat for this bank that has posted a net profit of Rs 470 crore during the second quarter of the current fiscal. In order to provide better customer service, the bank is in the process of introducing a missed call banking concept where customers can know balance outstanding in their CASA account instantly by giving a missed call to a particular number allotted for this purpose.

The overall global deposits of the bank also grew 22.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 190,820 crore as against Rs 155,854 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. Global advances increased 20.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 155,336 crore as against Rs 127,795 crore in the second quarter of the last year.

The bank has opened 43 new branches during the second quarter of this fiscal. It has so far 3,047 branches in the country. Total income of the Manipal-headquartered bank has increased from Rs 4,546 crore to Rs 4,850 crore during the period. The bank reported a marginal 1.5 percent rise in net profit to Rs 470 crore compared to Rs 463 crore in the same period last year. Operating profit declined 3.8 percent to Rs 811 crore for the quarter, compared to Rs 843 crore in the same period last year.

The bank’s total income for the quarter increased 6.6 percent to Rs 4,850 crore, as against Rs 4,546 crore in the year-ago period. Net interest income for the bank increased only 1.4 percent, to Rs 1,411 crore. The net interest margin fell to 2.89 percent as against 3.26 percent in the September quarter last year. The rates of gross NPAs (non-performing assets) to the total ratio rose to 2.88 percent, as against 2.47 percent in the same period last year, as a few big loans turned bad due to the economic slowdown, the bank said in a statement.

Going forward

a) In order to ensure quick turnaround time for credit and also to ensure top level executive being close to customers and branches, the bank has introduced the concept of Field General Manager. Eight such FGMs offices will be functional from November 1, 2013.

b) In view of wider network, the bank will carve out two new regions at Ongole and Madurai from November 1.

c) Existing centralised processing cells for housing loan will be enlarged and similar cells for SMEs credit will be opened shortly.