South Africa's First Rand gets banking licence in India: Report
13 May 2009
South African banking group First Rand has been allowed to open an office in Mumbai, becoming the first African lender to get a banking licence in India, media reports said.
"First Rand Group became the first African lender to win a banking licence in India" the Financial Times reported, adding, the bank has opened an office in Mumbai.
"A team of 40 staff has begun seeking advisory and project finance work as part of a strategy to 'dominate' expanding trade flows between India and sub-Saharan Africa," the report said.
First Rand, with subsidiaries in southern Africa and operations in other regions, expects to exploit the competitive advantage of being a strong African regional player with a bigger balance sheet than Indian banks or other global players.
First Rand Limited reported a 23 per cent drop in its proforma normalised earnings at 4.6 billion rand with a normalised return on equity (ROE) of 17 per cent compared to 26 per cent in the comparative period last year.
The results are in line with the trading update provided to the market in December 2008, the bank said.
The total banking portfolio produced 4.1 billion rand of normalised earnings, representing a 21 per cent decline on the comparative period, the bank said in a release.
Normalised earnings were down 19 per cent to 740 million rand from 913 million rand in 2007, although the ROE remained robust at 23 per cent.
