Financial Times

ICICI Bank opens in Colombo this year
By Duruthu Edirimuni
Presidential elections in November haven’t deterred India’s giant ICICI Bank from going ahead with plans to open a branch in Colombo this year.
“So far as our bank is concerned, we are not worried about the political environment, because the industry is poised to grow in this part of the region,” an ICICI Bank source told The Sunday Times FT.

Having rented a state of the art building in a prime location at Dharmapala Mawatha in Colpetty, ICICI will start operations towards the end of the year. “This is a very convenient location and will be our head office as well as the first branch,” the source said. He said the bank was to start operations earlier but this was delayed due to the new capital requirements stipulated by the regulator recently. However, the source was quick to add that the new capital requirement is not an issue for ICICI.

ICICI will be focussing more on the remittances, both inward and outward, but he didn’t give any more details on the operation. The bank will be hiring local staff, mainly hiring competent individuals with banking experience. “There is a lot of interest about ICICI at the moment and we are interviewing people and are in the process of hiring,” he said.

The 50-year old organisation ventured into the international market just three years ago. “We are present in the UK, Canada, Singapore, USA, Dubai, Bahrain, South Africa, Bangladesh, China and Russia and we are awaiting a license to operate in Hong Kong,” the source said.

Back to Business