Friday, May 9, 2008

Canara, HSBC & OBC insurance JV gets regulatory nod

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), on Thursday gave its approval to the proposed life insurance joint venture company of Canara Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and HSBC Insurance (Asia-Pacific).

The JV, in which Canara Bank will hold a majority 51 per cent stake, will be known as Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited and has already been capitalised at USD 81 million (Rs 325 -crore).

HSBC Insurance, which is understood to have invested around Rs 177 crore in the JV, will have a 26 per cent stake in the company while OBC will hold 23 per cent stake.

While officials of were not available for comments, it is understood that the investment by Canara Bank and OBC are Rs 102 crore and Rs 46 crore respectively. Canara Bank, in which the Government has a 73.17 per cent stake, has over 2,600 branches and an asset size of USD 45.2 billion, while OBC has a branch network of 1,402 while its asset size stands at USD 22.61 billion as on March 31, 2008.

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