(11 July 2012 – India) The Union Bank of India (UBI) has plans to open three overseas branches by early 2013 to achieve its target to boost credit growth by 20 percent.The state-run lender plans to open branches in Sydney, Dubai and London. It already operates overseas branches in Hong Kong and five representative offices elsewhere.
UBI chairman and managing director D Sarkar said he was hopeful that at least three overseas branches would be open by March next year.
Its branch at the Dubai International Finance Centre will help it raise money in foreign currencies that it will lend to borrowers in non-rupee denominations.
UBI is targeting a credit growth of 18 percent to 20 percent this fiscal year. Sarkar said the bank, which posted a margin of 3.2 percent last quarter, is confident of maintaining its net interest margin above 3 percent.
Its asset expansion in the first quarter has been subdued, Sarkar said, because of the international financial downturn and other factors such as the monsoon season.