New Delhi, March 18:The Standard Chartered Group has sought permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to offer common products including credit cards, demat accounts and retail banking products, following its merger with ANZ-Grindlays. The bank has applied to RBI to offer common banking solutions such as demat accounts, credit cards, ATMs etc for the customers of ANZ-Grindlays and Standard Chartered, the bank's chief executive (India), Harpal Duggal said here."The permission is expected within a few weeks after which we will be able to offer better services to our customers," he said. Both the outfits combined have an individual savings account base of nearly nine lakh accounts, over 20,000 demat accounts, over 1,200 corporate accounts and nearly 11 lakh credit card holders, Duggal said.
Standard Chartered Grindlays has also decided to distribute both life and non-life insurance products of private companies. The bank is in talks with a few large players for life insurance products, Duggal said.
"We are on the verge of finalising our foray into distribution of life insurance products. We are talking to some leading players. A decision to this effect is expected within the next 30 days. The bank has already tied up with Royal Sundaram for distributing non-life insurance schemes from its various branches," he said.
Both the banks have a combined asset base of over Rs 20,000 crore, he added.
(PTI)
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