NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May. 12, 2009--
ICICI Bank Limited (NYSE: IBN), India’s second-largest Bank and India’s
largest credit card issuer, and Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) have announced a
strategic relationship that will enable ICICI’s New York Branch to issue
Visa Debit cards in the U.S., extending the convenience and worldwide
acceptance of Visa Debit cards to the bank’s increasingly global
customer base.
The bank will offer Visa Debit cards to its Global Indian Account and
other checking account customers at its New York branch. The Global
Indian Account service addresses the banking needs of Indians moving
overseas who require access to local banking facilities in the United
States.
Mr. G V S Ramesh, Head of ICICI Bank’s US Branch, said, “We chose Visa
as our strategic partner in the U.S. for exactly the same reason we work
closely with Visa in India – they have an unmatched suite of payment
products that allows our customers to pay securely and conveniently for
every type of purchase. Visa Debit makes an important contribution to
enhancing our relationship with our most valued customers.”
The Global Indian Account provides customers with simultaneous access to
a US$ Checking account at the Bank’s New York Branch for use in the U.S.
and a Rupee NRE account at ICICI Bank Limited for their use in India.
The US$ Checking account will come with a Visa Debit card that can be
used at millions of merchant locations and ATMs worldwide; the accounts
will have Internet banking capabilities for electronic fund transfers -
including cross border remittances - and will primarily be targeted at
the large Indian expatriate community working in the U.S.
“This new debit offering reflects ICICI’s commitment to finding
innovative ways to meet the evolving payment needs of its growing and
geographically-distributed customer base,” said
Stacey Pinkerd
, head of
global consumer debit products, Visa Inc. “We look forward to continuing
to work closely with ICICI in identifying new opportunities to tailor
Visa’s highly versatile debit platform to serve their customers and grow
their global business,” he concluded.
In March 2008, ICICI Bank opened its first New York Branch in midtown
Manhattan. ICICI Bank’s New York branch focuses on corporate banking,
including working capital, treasury solutions, trade finance and
long-term lending focusing on India-US business linkages, and the local
banking needs of non-resident Indians.
About ICICI Bank Ltd: ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE:
IBN) is India's largest private sector bank and the second largest bank
in the country with consolidated total assets of over $95 billion as of
March 31, 2009. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s leading
private sector insurance companies and among its largest securities
brokerage firms, mutual funds and private equity firms. ICICI Bank’s
presence currently spans 19 countries, including India.
About Visa Inc.: Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail
electronic payments network providing processing services and payment
product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and
commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron,
Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the
world, and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks,
offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For
more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.
Except for the historical information contained herein, statements in
this release, which contain words or phrases such as 'will', 'would',
etc., and similar expressions or variations of such expressions
may constitute 'forward-looking statements'. These
forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties
and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to our ability to obtain
statutory and regulatory approvals and to successfully implement our
strategy, future levels of non- performing loans, our growth and
expansion in business, the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses,
technological implementation and changes, the actual growth in demand
for banking products and services, investment income, cash flow
projections, our exposure to market risks ICICI Bank undertakes no
obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date thereof. ICICI Bank and the "I man" logo
are the trademarks and property of ICICI Bank.
Source: Visa Inc. & ICICI Bank Ltd
ICICI Bank Ltd
Mr. Charudatta Deshpande, +91 22 26538208
charudatta.deshpande@icicibank.com
or
Visa
Inc.
Jennifer Doidge, 415-932-2564
globalmedia@visa.com