Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje

Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (MM/NR)

Mangalore, Jan 23: "Nearly 200 villages will be covered under the branch-less banking system in the coming couple of months. Focus will be on the southern regions where Corporation Bank is having a strong base," declared Mohan Rao, general manager of the bank.

Releasing the Q3 results to media persons here in the city on Tuesday, January 22, he informed that branch-less banking is a unique concept which is introduced only by Corporation bank in India. It helps the daily wage earners in the village to save their money. Earlier (whenever they needed cash) they were constrained to spend their whole day for banking transactions, he pointed out.

In order to render comprehensive multifaceted and quality service to its customers, the bank has launched two new services viz., ‘Financial Health Checkup’ and ‘Invest Shoppe’ in Mangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The 'Financial Health Checkup' package enables the customer to get his finance portfolio examined from the health point as well as get comprehensive advice on risk-reward portfolio sharing, he informed.

The bank has achieved a growth of 23.2 % in total income, 30.4% in net profit and 6% in the net interest income for the Q3 ended on 31st December 2007, as compared to the Q3 ended on 31st December 2006, Mohan Rao explained.

The net worth of the bank stood at Rs 4295 crore as compared to Rs 3808 crore as on 31st December 2006. The return on equity works out to 16.43% (annualized) for the 9 months ended December 2007 as against 14.62% for the corresponding 9 months ended December 2006 and 14.24% for the full year ended March 2007. The return on average assets of the bank on annualized basis stood at 1.39%. The Earnings Per Share (EPS) (annualized) was Rs 49.21, he stated giving details about the bank's performance.
 
Corporation Bank general managers B R Bhat and M Narendra were present on the occasion.