SBI plans one-man branches

State Bank of India (SBI), in an attempt to tap the mass affluent and high net worth individuals (HNIs), plans to set up 'one-man branches' and financial service centres (FSCs) in urban areas.

The bank wants to open 1,000 one-man, virtually doorstep branches in residential areas to meet the banking needs of these categories.

The FSCs will be located at shopping malls and market centers and will operate as sales centres. They will offer walk-in customers personal banking products, credit cards, remittance facilities, investment advisory services, including mutual funds and insurance. The FSCs will also house an automated teller machine (ATM), a cheque drop-box and an internet kiosk.

The bank is in talks with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to secure approval for opening the outlets.

The bank also plans to convert its existing loss-making branches in metro and urban areas into lean branches providing only routine banking transactions. These branches would be staffed with a branch manager and would have a single window for all transactions.

The bank has a network of 9,559 branches and 7,546 ATMs. The bank expects the number of branches and ATMs to cross 10,000 and 8,500, respectively, by March 2008.