ICICI Bank, one of India’s prominent private sector banks, has clinched a tie-up with Santander bank in Britain in a pact aimed at facilitating the banking requirements of corporates operating across both countries.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between ICICI and Santander UK Plc, signed in Mumbai, is designed to establish a framework of partnership between the banks to meet the financial service requirements of corporate customers operating within the India-UK corridor. ICICI Bank said it will provide banking solutions across trade, cross-border payments, supply chain, treasury solutions and retail banking to the UK corporates operating in India and Santander UK will support Indian corporates and new age businesses for their banking requirements in the UK.
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Sriram H. Iyer, Head of the International Banking Group, ICICI Bank said: “Historically, India and UK have strong bilateral relations and India has been a preferred foreign investment destination for UK businesses. UK ranks amongst the top 10 countries investing in India.
“This MoU helps to provide seamless banking services for corporates in the UK-India corridor. With our wide network, industry-first digital offerings, and comprehensive suite of corporate ecosystem banking, we are confident that ICICI Bank will support Santander UK and help its customers grow their business in India, and make India one of their key markets.
“This partnership will help us serve the banking needs of the entire corporate ecosystem in the growing UK-India corridor.”
According to official government statistics, the UK is the sixth-largest investor in India’s economy, with cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows of $31.7 billion and contributing 6 per cent to India’s total FDI inflows. John Carroll, Head of International and Transactional Banking at Santander UK, said its pact with ICICI will help the bank support even more UK companies to realise their international ambitions in India.
Carroll said: “ICICI Bank stands out as a pioneer in the Indian banking industry, bringing industry-first digital solutions as well as local expertise, client focused solutions and a tailored sectoral approach.
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“This is twinned with a shared belief in the power of our international ecosystems, which will support ambitious UK SMEs [small and medium enterprises] looking to succeed in India. Next month, we’ll be launching our digital platform to help UK companies navigate their way through the unknown and sometimes daunting path to international expansion.
“We have already established a significant number of agreements with banks and other key trade facilitation experts worldwide but with India increasing in importance as a destination for UK businesses to explore, adding ICICI Bank and India to our ecosystem means we’re now able to support even more UK companies to realise their international ambitions.”