(12 July 2005 – India) India’s biggest private bank, ICICI, is entering the UK online deposit market with a product targeting customers with a 5.4 percent interest rate on savings.The bank is taking advantage of the low cost of going to market with a savings product that is accessed and transacted over the internet with back end processing done cheaply at ICICI’s Bangalore operation.
The bank is aiming to snare ₤500 million worth of savings from new UK customers this year with its HiSave product.
The move forms part of ICICI’s tentative push at becoming a global bank. The bank said it currently had 10 million internet customers around the world.
ICICI has promised a competitive interest rate for at least two and a half years but said it could not guarantee its opening 5.4 percent rate would be maintained.