ICICI Bank goes for 360-degree corporate move

ICICI Bank, the country’s second-largest private sector lender, is adopting a 360-degree approach in its corporate banking segment, wherein corporate relationship managers will not only act as loan facilitators, but will also aim to capture the entire corporate ecosystem to offer a wide range of services, the banks’ top management told analysts on Monday.

That said, the bank has asserted that retail, small and medium enterprises, and business banking would be its key growth drivers going forward.

The bank’s advances in the September quarter grew 23 per cent year-on-year and 5 per cent sequentially to ~9.38 trillion, with the retail portfolio growing 25 per cent YOY and 6 per cent sequentially. Business banking grew 43 per cent YOY and 11 per cent Q0Q, and the corporate segment growth increased 23 per cent YOY and 7 per cent sequentially.

“A corporate 360-degree move is about providing solutions on corporate, statutory, supply chain, employees, and family office needs,” said Motilal Oswal in a report, quoting the banks’ management. According to a BNP Paribas report, “The bank was clear that tech investments remain a strategic priority and feels no need to rationalise away from the 9-10 per cent of opex, the global benchmark for investments”.

According to analysts, there could be some downside risks to this move. “With this approach, there could be attrition and loss of morale at branchlevel sales,” said analysts at BNP Paribas. “This is quite a radical approach of doing business. We worry whether this could see some high performers leaving the bank,” said Macquarie Research in its report.