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Vijaya Bank to enter insurance business

Vijaya Bank has decided to foray into life insurance business, both life and non-life, primarily selling policies, the bank's chairman and managing director S Gopalakrishnan told reporters on Tuesday.

The board of directors of the bank had given its in-principle approval for the proposal at a meeting held here last week, the CMD said.

The bank would start negotiations with foreign insurance companies, who already had a tie-up with Indian outfits, after the closure of its Rs 1 billion initial public offer of 100 million shares of Rs 10 each, Gopalakrishnan said.

The IPO opens on November 27 and closes on December 4.

Several foreign and Indian insurance companies had already approached the bank, basically to make use of the bank's 837 branches spread over all the 28 states to sell their products.

Vijaya Bank would have about 10 per cent of the equity in the proposed insurance company and that too jointly with two other partners, Gopalakrishnan said.

Asked about the voluntary retirement scheme announced by the bank, the CMD said that the surplus staff of the bank could be assessed only after getting the employees' response to the scheme.

UNI

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