Mumbai: State Bank of India (SBI) has embarked on a transformation path to scale up its profile.

The country''s largest bank now plan to cater to the affluent strata and also gain structural capabilities for a complete wholesale banking division.

Currently, only 3 per cent of its individual customers are from the mass affluent segment, and it is also unable to provide sophisticated solutions to corporates.

The bank''s strategy for winning market share includes getting back Indian middle-class consumers, "own" rural India, set-up a profitable wholesale banking division, a global treasury, chart out "smart" global expansion and enter new business areas that had bypassed the bank.

The bank is firming up plans to enter new business areas of financial planning and advisory services, custodial services, merchant acquisition, mobile banking, payments solutions, general insurance, pension funds this year.

The bank has created posts of 439 relationship managers in personal banking and will recruit 1000 RMs by October and cull out wealth managers from them.
A super circle of 762 branches, one from each region, is being planned. These branches will have greater share of resources at their disposal. O P Bhatt, chairman, SBI said.

Holding company for insurance, asset management planned
The bank is also planning to set up a holding company to transfer its shareholding in its insurance and asset management subsidiaries.

The holding company will hold SBI''s stake in SBI Life (a joint venture between SBI and Cardiff SA of France) and SBI Funds Management Ltd (a joint venture with Societe Generale Asset Management) and subsequently its stake in a proposed non-life venture.

The holding company, which will be an NBFC, will be set up in the next three to four months. SBI is also in talks with domestic and foreign partners for its proposed foray in non-life insurance, which is likely to be finalised in the next two to three months.