(2 September 2016 – India) Australia’s biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), said that it will exit India following weak results in the country and a re-alignment of the bank’s strategy in the region.
CBA said it will close its Mumbai branch, which focusses on small businesses and commercial customers “after careful evaluation of our India business alongside our refocused strategy”.
CBA’s India operations sit in the group’s International Financial Services division run by Rob Jesudason, a former investment banker who is based in Hong Kong and reports to chief Ian Narev.
For the year to June 30, the “IFS and other” reporting division suffered a 21 percent dive in cash profit to A$26 million. Meanwhile, the bank saw its slowest growth rate since 2008 over the same period, achieving a overall cash profit increase of just 3 percent to $9.5 billion
A CBA spokeswoman told The Australian that the bank “routinely” reviewed which parts of the group’s business “need to evolve in order to ensure long term sustainability and success”.
In accounts filed on CBA’s India website, the bank made a A$7.3m loss for the year to March 31, 2015. At the time, it had around A$77m in loans and A$19.4m of deposits.