PNB plans to open branch in Pakistan

THE Punjab National Bank (PNB) is firming up plans to open a branch in Pakistan.?We have sought RBI permission to set up a branch in Pakistan. In all likelihood, the branch will be set up in Pakistan?s commercial capital Karachi,? S C Gupta, PNB Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) said here on Saturday.

THE Punjab National Bank (PNB) is firming up plans to open a branch in Pakistan.“We have sought RBI permission to set up a branch in Pakistan. In all likelihood, the branch will be set up in Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi,” S C Gupta, PNB Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) said here on Saturday.

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He said that the bank did not rule out the possibility of acquiring smaller banks in future. “Inorganic growth for PNB has also become unavoidable. If there are right synergies found between PNB’s business worth crores of rupees focus with smaller banks, we are open to acquiring them after going through a proper process,” Gupta said.

“We do not have anything tangible at hand in terms of smaller banks getting identified right now for acquisition. However, the bank had set its acquisition plans rolling with no particular deadlines worked out to identify and acquire smaller banks globally,” he said.Responding to a query on PNB’s operational readiness to meet the Basel II norms, Gupta commented: “PNB is fully geared with all its risk management systems in place to meet the Basel II deadline of March 2007.”

Talking about his meeting with the senior management of the Punjab National Bank Institute of Information Technology (PNBIIT) which has a developed state-of-the art infrastructure in the city, Gupta said that PNBIIT had been working with cutting-edge banking technology.