VANCOUVER (CP) - ICICI Bank chief executive Vaman Kamath has his eye on the money that is sent back to Indian by expats living in Canada every year and he wants to grab a bigger piece of the remittance market pie.
"Globally in remittances to India we have 17 to 18 per cent market share and by the end of this year we will strive to have that same market share in Canada," Kamath said in an interview Wednesday. "This is a business that we believe is growing very rapidly as people who have settled here have needs back wherever they came from and we want to cater to that market."
Kamath, who was in Vancouver to attend the opening of ICICI Bank Canada's first branch outside of Ontario, said the bank is focusing on bank-based and online remittances.
With four branches in the Toronto area already, Kamath said the bank was looking to follow up the new downtown Vancouver location with a branch next year in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver and home to many Indian immigrants.
He also said Calgary and Montreal would be likely cities for further expansion.
"These are the places you have an Indian population with an immediate need for some of the services we provide, particularly the remittance and home-country services," Kamath said.
While originally focused on the Indian market, ICICI has started to attract a broader customer base by offering higher than average interest rates on savings accounts.
"It did initially surprise us because we were not a known bank here. We thought there would be some brand affinity with the Indian customer, but by and large now we're finding the attractiveness of the deal is what is really swaying customers."
However the growth comes as the credit cycle in Canada is beginning to tighten. After years of easy money and low interest rates in Canada and the United States, central banks have moved to raise interest rates in recent months.
"Our strategy is very simple. Keep costs low because that's one thing that will hold you in good sted in whatever you do.
Part of the reason ICICI can offer the higher rates is a focus on costs and the use of technology in India to help keep them in check.
"What we are trying to do is find the right balance between doing things onshore here and from a cost point of view try to balance that with offshore activities," Kamath said.
"While the number of jobs offshore may not be significant, the technology is almost entirely backended into India."
ICICI Bank Canada has about 30,000 customers. Mumbai-based ICICI Bank Ltd. is India's largest private sector bank with $42 billion US in assets.
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