Commercial Bank gears for exchange house in Rome
The Commercial Bank is gearing to open a fully fledged exchange house in Rome, officials said.
“With the potential in the remittance business from Italy, Commercial Bank tied up with an Exchange House operating in Italy called National Exchange Company some years ago. With this many Sri Lankans who earlier relied on various informal channels to remit money started utilising our e-Exchange Money Transfer System. Realising the potential in this line of business, the bank formed a fully owned subsidiary by the name – Commex Sri Lanka S.R.L. in Italy. What we’re trying to have is a fully fledged exchange house in Rome under Commex,” a bank official told the Business Times.
He added that the bank is now working towards getting a licence from the Italian government.
He also said that the final approval process is on for the ‘rep’ office in Myanmar which they applied for some months ago. “We will have to run this office for two years before we can start a fully fledged branch in Myanmar.”
He said that bank officials visited Nepal some months ago in order to evaluate a suitable stake in a Nepalese bank. He also said that Indonesia is in their radar for the future. Commercial Bank, which already has its presence in Bangladesh with 17 delivery points and nine branches, is also eyeing other suitable markets.
Some years ago the bank had decided to venture into India following the success of its Bangladesh business, but abandoned this process when it was found that costs were high and approvals were tough.
Sampath and National Development Bank (NDB) are amongst other local banks to have a presence in Bangladesh.