SBM Bank (India) Limited officially on WOS mode

SBM becomes the first foreign bank to operate as a Wholly Owned Subsidiary in India further to banking licence granted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Further to the banking licence granted last year by the Reserve Bank of India to SBM Group, SBM Bank (India) Limited becomes the first foreign bank to start operations as a Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) in India as from the 1st December 2018.

This banking licence authorises SBM Group to pursue its operations as a WOS and to amalgamate its existing branches of SBM Bank (Mauritius) Limited into a full-fledged subsidiary, known as SBM Bank (India) Limited.

According to the Chairman of SBM Group, Mr. K.C Li, ‘the conversion of SBM branches into a WOS in India will reinforce the Group’s capabilities for supporting trade and investment flows along the India-Africa corridor and support our emergence as a key financial player in the region. Our objective is to build a robust presence in the Indian banking and financial sector that will serve the Indian market in a more effective manner while putting the Group in a better position to attract potential investors into Africa, where there is a significant financing gap. SBM will also have a greater bandwidth to expand its Mauritius based Non-Banking Financial Cluster offering with products and services around Stockbroking, Wealth Management and Investment Banking among others. Through this WOS mode, SBM will further demonstrate that it possesses the right competences, abilities and infrastructure to develop further as a significant regional player.’

SBM Group has recently consolidated its presence in Kenya through the acquisition of selected assets and liabilities of Chase Bank. The Group now operates more than 60 branches with 700 employees across the country to serve its clients with excellence.

The Chief Executive Officer of SBM Holdings Ltd, Mr. Andrew Bainbridge reckons that ‘the strategy of SBM India will be to focus firstly on the domestic front where SBM will mainly target the mid-market segment comprising mid-corporate and higher end SME segments.  Secondly, from a more global perspective, SBM will service entities having an India-Africa presence, giving them the cost and scope advantages of a single financial service provider at different stages of the value chain. SBM will support offshore investments of resident companies and individuals through its Mauritius based Non-Banking Financial companies and will act as a one-stop shop for both domestic and foreign investments.’

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SBM Bank (India) Limited, Mr. Sidharth Rath, highlights that ‘India is growing very rapidly and is likely to be among the top 3 largest economies in the world in the near future. Operating as a full-fledged universal bank in India, SBM shall offer a better reach and a stronger presence in the Indian market. Moreover, SBM possesses the potential and capabilities to grow across major centres of India to build balance sheet scale in a well-diversified manner and deliver a mix of domestic and offshore products to resident individuals and companies.’

SBM is present in India since 1994, and currently operates four branches, namely in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ramachandrapuram.  

Posted by Minority Voice on Dec 9 2018. Filed under Economie, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry