(20 February 2008 – India) The Reserve Bank of India has said that it would grant UBS a commercial banking branch licence after a three-year wait.Reserve Bank of India deputy governor V Leeladhar said that while the process had been stalled in a tax department investigation, it had been cleared and UBS were now permitted to go ahead and start a branch.
UBS can now consolidate its existing presence in India with the new licence enabling UBS to establish a branch that offers wealth management services.
The new licence will enable it to undertake more derivatives and foreign exchange trading activities in the country to private banking clients.
Leeladhar said a separate application from Singapore’s DBS, south-east Asia’s largest bank, for a banking licence was also in the final stages of discussion.
In India, commercial branch licences to foreign institutions are limited to about 18 a year.