by NR INDRAN / INT

Mumbai – CaixaBank, the leader inretail banking in Spain and one of the ten largest banks in the Eurozone bystock market capitalisation, today inaugurated its new representative office inNew Delhi (India), which will provide support to the growing operations ofSpanish businesses in the Indian market. The inauguration, held in the Indiancapital, was attended by Isidro Fainé, Chairman of CaixaBank and “laCaixa”, who reiterated the bank’s belief in India’s potential forsocial and economic growth and successful trade relations between Spain andIndia.

IsidroFainé commented that “the bank’s presence in India is a further demonstrationof our willingness to move with our customers as they grow internationally, aswell as to contribute towards the development of a country that is now beinglooked to as a driver of the global economy, due to its extensive market,growing middle class, macroeconomic stability, large pool of skilled labour androbust financial system”.

Extensivelocal experience

Thenew CaixaBank office in New Delhi, overseen by Peter Hansen, a professionalwith demonstrable experience in India, his home for 23 years, is alreadyproviding support to Spanish businesses as they establish themselves in theregion, mainly in terms of their financial needs and their dealings with India,a country with which CaixaBank enjoys close relations. Further factors that helpreinforce service excellence are CaixaBank’s financial strength, its leadingposition in Spanish retail banking, where it has the largest branch network inthe country and the trust of more than 10.5 million customers, and its strongcommitment to business services via its network of branches specialising inbusiness clients.

Inthe first half of 2011 CaixaBank handled 10% of all trade flows between Spainand India, which totalled more than 4 billion euros last year. Furthermore,since 2000 Spain has invested an accumulated total of around 600 million eurosin India, which places it thirteenth in the ranking of countries investing inIndia, according to the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion at theIndian Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Three years ago Spain held the 22ndposition in the ranking.

Spanishcompanies have made sizable investments in India in industries such asvehicles, renewable energy and infrastructure, while Spanish exports havefocused on industrial products.

Solidinternational strategy

Thenew Indian representative office comes as part of CaixaBank’s internationalstrategy, and joins other representative offices in London (United Kingdom),Paris (France), Milan (Italy), Stuttgart and Frankfurt (Germany), Istanbul(Turkey), Beijing and Shanghai (China), Dubai (United Arabs Emirates) andSingapore. The bank also has international branches in Warsaw (Poland),Bucharest (Romania) and Casablanca (Morocco), a country where it was the firstSpanish bank to open a branch. Likewise, CaixaBank holds bilateral agreementswith more than 2,500 international banks to facilitate international operationsand foreign trade for businesses and individuals anywhere in the world.

CaixaBankalso holds stakes in banks based in various countries, with which it hasdeveloped partnership strategies to provide mutual support for businesses andcustomers. The bank has a 20% stake in the Mexican bank GFInbursa, 30.1% ofBanco BPI in Portugal, 16.9% of The Bank of East Asia based in Hong Kong, 10.1%of the Austrian entity Erste Bank and 20.7% of Boursorama in France.

“laCaixa” Social Welfare Foundation in India

CaixaBank’sChairman also took the opportunity while in India to see firsthand experienceof several welfare projects run in India by different organizations. The”la Caixa” Social Welfare Foundation, which oversees the “laCaixa” Group’s cultural, educational, social and scientific projects, hasin recent years financed 17 international cooperation projects in India, whereit now funds socio-economic development initiatives promoted by several NGOsalongside local partners.

Theseprojects include field cultivation, agricultural education and the constructionof dikes and sewer systems to support the conservation of land and water in theregion of Dindori Taluka; support and reinforcement for the socio-economicdevelopment (including access to micro-credit) of women in rural areas of theKanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu; and the socio-economic development of 4 ofIndia’s southern rural districts by means of upgrading a milk plant, aproject that has benefitted cattle farmers with few resources, as well as salesstaff and new employees at the plant.

Amongthe events attended by Isidro Fainé in India was the Annual Conference of theClub of Rome, held this year in New Delhi. Fainé, as well as being the Chairmanof the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome, is a member of theorganisation’s international executive committee, which identifies andassesses the most pressing problems facing humanity, as well as promotingresearch into alternative potential solutions and identifying future scenarios.

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