South Indian Bank has 451 branches and 44 extension counters spread across the country and a deposit base of Rs10,000 crore.

Sandeep Singh, national sales head, signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Indian Bank on behalf of Franklin Templeton India, while Sunil Subramaniam, vice-president, signed the MoU for Sundaram BNP.

The alliance would help Franklin Templeton reach out to retail investors who did not have access to its products, Singh said.

Based in San Mateo, California, US, Franklin Templeton Investments is one of the largest financial service groups in the world. The group has $492.2 billion in assets under management globally (as of May 31, 2006). In India, Franklin Templeton has over Rs21,649 crore of assets under management and an investor base of over 18 lakh. It has offices in 33 cities and collection centres in another 45 locations in the country.

For Sundaram BNP this is one step towards more such alliances with banks, said Sunil Subramaniam. He said all the schemes - 10 equity, 12 debt and two hybrid - schemes - of Sundaram BNP Mutual Fund would be distributed through the new arrangement.

 Subramaniam also said that the number of branches of Sundaram BNP would be increased to 45 by the end of the current fiscal from the present 37.

South Indian Bank, Valsan said, is taking yet another step towards diversification, offering solutions to diverse financial needs of its customers.

The mutual funds distribution would help generate substantial revenues for the bank, Valsan added.

He said the bank would have tie-ups with five mutual fund companies to provide a choice to the customers. The bank, he said, has tied up with an exchange company in Dubai to offer better services to non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the Gulf and would commence operations there soon.