The Hindu Business Line : Barclays to invest $70 m for corporate banking

Mr Robert Morrice (right), Chairman & Chief Executive, Asia Pacific, Barclays Capital, and Mr David Roberts, Chief Executive, International Retail and Commercial Banking, at a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday. - Shashi Ashiwal

Mumbai , March 21

The UK-based Barclays Plc is starting corporate banking services in India with an investment of $70 million over the next two years.

The bank is opening a branch in Mumbai and will hire up to 150 people for this division, said senior officials at a press conference on Tuesday.

According to Mr David Roberts, Chief Executive of Barclays International Retail and Commercial Banking, the bank is changing its business focus from the UK to other countries. Currently 40 per cent of the group's business comes from non-UK markets. The aim is to increase the share of the international business to 50 per cent of the total business in three years, said Mr Roberts. "We want to achieve this by organic growth," he said.

Services on offer

As part of corporate banking, the bank hopes to offer services such as supply chain management, structured trade finance, lease finance, asset finance, cash management and products like treasury products and liquidity products. The bank will target mid-corporates, SMEs and large corporates in India.

The bank is also in talks with the Reserve Bank of India for opening branches in other cities in India, Mr Roberts said.

"India is a hugely attractive market for us. This year we are seeking to expand particularly in high growth markets and in India," he said.

Barclays already has an investment bank in India and has invested $150 million to expand the investment banking services. With this, the commitment to India has doubled, said Mr Robert Morrice, Chief Executive, Asia Pacific.

"India contributes to around 25 per cent of the business from Asia," he said.

Barclays is one of the leaders in overseas convertible bond issuances in India. Apart from this, debt instruments are also likely to grow, he said. Risk management and risk advisory is also a large growth for the bank, he said.

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