Bank of Baroda to expand activities in US

Public sector Bank of Baroda plans to expand its activities in the United States to meet the needs of expatriate growing Indian community.

The bank, whose New York branch has been functioning for 25 years, has already moved the authorities in the US for opening its branches in Texas and California where people of Indian origin have substantial presence, its Chairman and Managing Director P S Shenoy told reporters in New York on Tuesday.

He said getting permission for opening new branches in the United States is a complicated procedure but the bank is pursuing it vigorously.

Shenoy said the bank plans to introduce cutting edge technology both in Indian and overseas branches which would bring it on par with the best banks in the world.

The bank at present has 38 overseas branches and 23 offices of its overseas subsidiaries in 16 countries. In India, it has a total of 2735 branches.

Replying to questions, he said with the opening up of the banking sector to private sector, the competition has definitely increased but it is good for both the industry and customer.

It would help customers to get best possible services at competitive costs and make industry more efficient, he added.

In its effort to expand operations and business in the United States, Shenoy said the bank is offering new products, focusing on new areas of business and giving specific thrust to its niche market - the ethnic Indian businesses and households.

The aim, he said, is to make it ‘the bank of first choice' for the markets it operates in.

The New York branch, Shenoy said, has successfully completed its first phase of upgradation of computer and is now poised to launch into Internet banking.

In presence of a select gathering of bank's customers, he formally inaugurated the BoB-Export-Collect scheme, an Internet-based bills collection facility which provides real-time on-line mechanism for collection of bills for its clients.