Yes Bank, India’s fourth-largest private sector bank, today signed an MoU in London with Santander to promote India-UK trade and business opportunities.
The deal is aimed at Santander UK, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Spanish Santander Group, offering its clients in Britain access to banking facilities and on-theground support through Yes Bank’s network across India.
The MoU also covers access for Indian businesses looking to expand globally to access Santander’s support network in the UK.
“The UK-India corridor is a high priority corridor for us and, as a global banking leader, Santander Group’s large international network along with knowledge expertise makes it a natural partner of choice for Indian companies looking to globalise,” said Rana Kapoor, founder & CEO of Yes Bank.
“The fact is that India is the fastest growing economy in the world today and quite naturally the opportunities between India and the UK are getting catalysed.
“Especially, SMEs (small and medium enterprises) need cross-border partners and banks are the channel that can help open new markets for them. Santander and Yes Bank are looking at providing a collaborative platform to help SMEs penetrate new geographies,” he said.
Yes Bank claims to have built expertise as a “preferred host country bank” for multinational corporations seeking to do business in India through its pan-India footprint, with over 1,000 branches across India.
The bank follows a differentiated “Knowledge Banking” approach, offering customised, sector-specific solutions to corporates across sectors such as Food & Agribusiness, Renewable Energy, Life Sciences, Urban Infrastructure, Tourism, Media & Entertainment Education among others.
“We are looking to establish key trade corridors and one of the main ones is India. The key issue for us was finding a partner with similar characteristics and cultural mindset to us and Yes Bank brings that perfect synergy,” said Chris Sullivan, Chief Executive – Corporate Banking Division, Santander UK.
John Carroll, Head of Product Management & International Business at Santander, noted: “We chose Yes Bank because we have similar approaches to connectivity. With their knowledge-driven banking, they too believe in the value of a sector-focused approach.”
“In India, they are organised intentionally to support the needs of international clients. They have a dedicated team based across the country; the largest team of its sort in India.”
The new arrangement is one of a series that Santander has in place around the world to boost international trade links.
The bank hopes the latest MoU will snowball into a wider partnership with UK businesses to help them achieve their ambitions of exploring new markets.
It is also in the process of setting up an “India Desk”
at its UK headquarters to provide a complete “eco-system” for UK companies looking to expand into India.
Source: PTI
