PNB AND VIJAYA HOPE TO SEAL INSURANCE VENTURE BY MID-FEB

A proposed India-based life and non-life joint venture between India’s Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Vijaya Bank, which was to have included Switzerland’s Zurich Financial Services until its recent withdrawal, is now expected to finalise its ownership by mid-February, according to PNB chairman SS Kohli. Two stakes in the venture — of 26% earmarked for a foreign investor and 35.5% available to a locally based business — still require backers, but Mr Kohli said that talks were currently ongoing with two potential partners. Assuming the ownership of the venture is settled shortly, Mr Kohl said that it could launch inside four months, though it would then require final clearance from local banking regulator the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which needs to authorise PNB and Vijaya to participate in the country’s insurance sector.