BankMuscat, Centurion Bank sign MoU to develop growing NRI business

Published June 28th, 2004 - 03:00 GMT

BankMuscat and Centurion Bank have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly tap into and develop the growing NRI business across the GCC region, Oman Daily Observer reported Sunday.

It added that BankMuscat has acquired a strategic stake in Centurion Bank and merged its Indian operations with the latter earlier this year. The NRI business was one of the three areas that were clearly identified at that time as potential areas of mutual development between the two sidess, the others being trade finance and investment flows.

“This MoU will allow Indians across the GCC to access the Centurion Bank footprint in India, through the BankMuscat network in the Gulf,” said Abdulrazak Ali Issa, Chief Executive of the bank.

“We intend to work very closely with the team at Centurion Bank to develop products and services that emerge out of our mutual and keen understanding of the needs of the Indian diaspora, both here and across the Indian subcontinent,” he noted.

BankMuscat has already opened significant lines of credit to Centurion Bank which are expected to assist the bank in its inter-bank and trade finance businesses.

BankMuscat, which has a strong presence in corporate banking, retail banking, investment banking and asset management, has a market share of 34.4 per cent of total assets, 38.1 per cent of total credit and 35.4 per cent of customer deposits.

The bank has a network of 90 branches in Oman, a branch in Bahrain and a representative office in Dubai.

The bank posted a 10 per cent growth in net profit at RO 7 million for the first quarter of the current year, which is against RO 6.4 million net earning for the same period last year. (menareport.com)