PNB and Allahabad Bank have already got the Reserve Bank's nod to float a subsidiary in Kazakhstan and will now need an approval from monetary authorities there, Allahabad Bank chairman O N Singh said flagging off its public offer.
"It will take another two months to start a subsidiary in Kazhakstan," he said. PNB already has a representative office in the Central Asian nation, which is slated to witness high growth on the back of oil and steel sectors.
Allahabad Bank has also applied to the RBI to set up a branch in Hong Kong and representative offices in China, Singh said. At home, the bank is planning to revive its subsidiary Allbank Finance and convert it into a merchant banking arm.
It has surrendered non-banking finance company licence of Allbank Finance to the RBI. Allbank Finance has a capital base of Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million).
Though the RBI had asked Allahabad Bank to liquidate the NBFC arm, the Kolkata-based bank wants to convert it to a merchant banker, he said.
Allahabad Bank is also going for a major revamp process and has engaged global consultants Ernst & Young to assist it to transform into a tech-savvy bank within the next two years.
"We have earmarked Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) investment for IT upgradation," Singh said.
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