JP Morgan Chase Bank is open to entering the retail banking segment in the country, provided it does not run contrary to the Indian government's policy and does not interfere with the execution of J P Morgan Chase's merger with BankOne. Currently, the group has equity broking and investment banking operations in India.
President of J P Morgan Chase International, Andrew Crockett, currently on a visit to India, said, "We are open to partnering with domestic institutions, for example, in credit card business, picking up a stake or even acquiring local banks provided it does not conflict with the government's policy on foreign players in the (banking) market."
He also added, "we do not want to do anything which would interfere with the execution of the merger of our institution with Bank One."
He said that JP Morgan had initiated talks with domestic players, but nothing concrete had emerged so far. "Everyone is in talks with someone or the other," Crocket said.
This is a change in stance for the bank's strategy globally, following the merger with BankOne in July this year. BankOne had a considerable retail presence in the US. Two years back, JP Morgan had taken a clear decision not to get into retail banking outside the US.
"But now we are prepared to reconsider the decision after the (BankOne) merger. We plan to use retail banking skills to add value to our services in other locations," Crockett said.
But he clearly indicated that the institution would not like to do anything that would be contrary to the Indian government's policy. "In India we would first like to understand the economy and the financial sector and the government's views before taking the retail expansion plans forward," Crockett added.
"In our interactions with the government, we have found a desire to continue with the reforms process in which foreign institutions can play a vital role," he said.
Crockett, along with JP Morgan chairman and chief executive officer, William B Harrison Jr. met the prime minister, the finance minister and Reserve Bank of India officials on their visit to India.
Crockett said the finance minister's recent statement of intention of allowing foreign banks to pick up a 10 per cent stake in Indian private banks every year had to be carefully considered, since it will be a slow and gradual process of taking control of an institution.
"We are not interested in just the equity part of the deal. We want to be a long term significant player," he said, adding that the bank was more interested in management control. Interestingly, JP Morgan was a founding shareholder of the erstwhile ICICI, now merged into ICICI Bank.
