By Paras Ramoutar, IANS
Port of Spain : India’s Bank of Baroda plans to expand its operations in Trinidad and Tobago by August after a review of its operations in this Caribbean nation revealed that it has “broken even on its books”.
Two branches are earmarked to be established in Chaguanas and San Fernando, and they await the necessary licensing and regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, according to Kishor Kharat, the bank’s managing director.
Kharat Friday said that “a cursory review of its operations for the first quarter of Oct 17, 2007 to Jan 17, 2008, reveals that the Bank of Baroda has broken even on its books”.
“This augurs well for the future operations of the Bank,” Kharat told IANS.
Kharat announced that with the “swiftness of our acceptance by both customers and corporate businesses, new capital, the sum equal to the initial one, will be injected shortly”.
The Bank of Baroda has captured the national imagination of all sectors of the corporate, business and personalised banking fraternity, Kharat added. He listed a network of major state-owned, financial and business organisations have already affiliated or are about to do so shortly with the bank.
“We have been informed that because of our world-wide operations, we are well-poised to offer a different approach and strategy to banking. Our operations continue to excite new customers on a daily basis,” Kharat said.
The former Pune resident added: “Right now the Bank of Baroda is finishing negotiations to commence business transactions with Linx. This facet of our business should become operational in March.”
Kharat said the Bank of Baroda continues to attract “customers from all parts of Trinidad. You’ll be surprised to learn that some of our clients are from deep south and central Trinidad as well as people of north Trinidad.”
“We are not an Indian diaspora banking facility. We are an international bank with an international image and reputation and service. We have been able to win the confidence of peoples of all ethnicities here. We have about a century banking experience and we can match our products and services with an existing facility world-wide,” Kharat said.
“Our high level of service, cordiality and camaraderie in banking are our endorsements,” he said.
The Bank of Baorda employs nine locals and five foreigners, all of whom are highly profiled in the entire gamut of modern day banking operations and service.
The Bank of Baroda has a sister bank in Georgetown, the capital of neighbouring Guyana.