United Bank sets aside Rs 250 crore for IT

United Bank of India (UBI) has committed an investment of Rs 250 crore on information technology for the next financial year. The investment will cover a massive roll out of core banking solutions (CBS), on line share trading facility, phone banking and cash management services among others. P K Gupta, chairman and managing director, UBI, said, “The main challenge in the coming year would be the application of technology for business growth.” “All these initiatives are a part of our vision to emerge as a dynamic, techno-savy, customer-centric, progressive and financially sound bank,” said Gupta. The bank has roped in Tata AIG Life Insurance Company as a strategic partner for its life insurance venture and launched a child insurance scheme in December 2007. “We are going to launch some exclusive products in this area,” he added.

CorpBank to add 100 branches in 2008

Corporation Bank will be opening 100 new branches in the calendar year 2008 with focus on western and northern regions of the country. The bank has already received the approval from the Reserve Bank of India for its biggest expansion initiative, Mr B. Samba Murthy, Chairman and Managing Director, Corporation Bank, told after the inauguration of its 950th branch in the country at Film Nagar (Hyderabad) on Wednesday. “We are now looking beyond Karnataka and would like to tap the market potential in the western and northern regions. This is in line with our aim of crossing one-lakh-crore mark in our business in 2008,” Mr Murthy said. By May 2008, the number of branches would be 1,000 and the remaining branches would be added by December this year, he said. The bank is building on its new format branches which house ‘CorpInvest Shoppe’ to cater to varied investment needs of the customers. “With the opening of today’s branch, we now have three new format braches. We plan to add another 37 before the year-end,” he said. The bank has also launched its ‘Branchless Banking’ at Shankarpalli near here to conduct transactions through biometric smart card with the help of a business correspondent