UK to be SBI's major global hub

State Bank of India plans to set up an administrative office in UK by end-fiscal, which would act as a hub for the bank to control its European operations, Chairman O P Bhatt said on Thursday.

"There would be an administrative set up in UK by the end of this fiscal, hopefully by the end of this calander year. Its control would extend to the bank's operations in entire Europe," Bhatt told reporters here.

The bank plans to scale up presence in UK by setting up 5 new offices in the next one year, starting with one in November, Bhatt said. Presently, SBI has seven branches in UK.

SBI plans to open over 40 new offices globally in the next one year. Presently the bank has 132 foreign offices including five subsidiaries.

These are Indonesia (6 branches), Mauritius (12 branches), Nepal (32 branches), California (7 branches)and Canada (7 branches).

Other destinations, where the lender has plans to open new offices include West Asia, Singapore, South Africa, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, USA, Srilanka, Nepal and HongKong.

In Nepal, the bank is looking at to establish 11 new branches in the next one year. With this Nepal will become the foreign country with highest number of SBI branches, Bhatt said.

SBI expects the contribution from its overseas business to net profit in FY10 to grow to 12 per cent from eight per cent in the year-ago period, Bhatt said.

SBI has a total business of over $3-billion in UK, which has grown by 40 per cent in the past two years.

The bank hopes to maintain this rate of growth this financial year as well, Bhatt said.

The lender is also open to acquring smaller banks in international markets including UK and is evaluating the options, Bhatt said.

Overseas branches will derive ateast 25 per cent of their business from local non-Indian clientele, Bhatt said.

Bhatt on Thursday discussed its business plans with UK Trade Investment & Business Minister Lord Mervyn Davies to explore various opportunities bilaterally.