Encouraged by the fall in loan losses, Standard Chartered Bank once again plans to focus on unsecured consumer loans. ?We have nearly 2.5 million customers and may start pushing our unsecured loans business. We are looking at our credit card and personal loan business but will not lend at the lower end,? said Vishu Ramachandran, regional head, consumer banking.
Currently, the bank is issuing around 20,000 cards a month and has also started offering personal loans at an interest rates of 18-19%. Unsecured loans currently account for less than a third of the bank?s Indian consumer assets.
The bank believes it can build a consumer loan book of $1 billion in the next four to five years; the retail portfolio accounts for 35% of the loan book at present. While the bank?s portfolios in countries like India and Pakistan were impacted during the global financial crises, things have since improved, according to Ramachandran. The SME and private banking businesses too are expected to grow by 25-30% this year, with 400-500 relationship managers being recruited, he added.
The bank is hoping to grow its mortgages book, currently at Rs 10,000 crore, by about 25-30% in 2010. That apart, it will strengthen its focus on private banking and the SME space, according to Shyamal Saxena, GM, retail banking, who says 60-70% of the mortgage business is concentrated in Mumbai and Delhi. ?We are increasing our distribution network and and are looking at newer products, Saxena added. Home loan disbursements are up at Rs 600-650 crore a month compared with Rs 500 crore five months back with the ticket size now averaging Rs 75-80 lakh as against Rs 50 lakh.
Backed by an increase in advances and lower loan impairments, the Indian operations of Standard Chartered reported a profit before tax (PBT) of $624 million in for the half year ending 2010 as against $526 million for the corresponding period last year, a rise of 19%, thereby making India the biggest market worldwide.