ICICI Bank to Issue Visa Debit Cards in the U.S.

May 12, 2009 at 8:03 AM EDT

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May. 12, 2009-- ICICI Bank Limited (NYSE: IBN), India’s second-largest Bank and India’s largest credit card issuer, and Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) have announced a strategic relationship that will enable ICICI’s New York Branch to issue Visa Debit cards in the U.S., extending the convenience and worldwide acceptance of Visa Debit cards to the bank’s increasingly global customer base.

The bank will offer Visa Debit cards to its Global Indian Account and other checking account customers at its New York branch. The Global Indian Account service addresses the banking needs of Indians moving overseas who require access to local banking facilities in the United States.

Mr. G V S Ramesh, Head of ICICI Bank’s US Branch, said, “We chose Visa as our strategic partner in the U.S. for exactly the same reason we work closely with Visa in India – they have an unmatched suite of payment products that allows our customers to pay securely and conveniently for every type of purchase. Visa Debit makes an important contribution to enhancing our relationship with our most valued customers.”

The Global Indian Account provides customers with simultaneous access to a US$ Checking account at the Bank’s New York Branch for use in the U.S. and a Rupee NRE account at ICICI Bank Limited for their use in India. The US$ Checking account will come with a Visa Debit card that can be used at millions of merchant locations and ATMs worldwide; the accounts will have Internet banking capabilities for electronic fund transfers - including cross border remittances - and will primarily be targeted at the large Indian expatriate community working in the U.S.

“This new debit offering reflects ICICI’s commitment to finding innovative ways to meet the evolving payment needs of its growing and geographically-distributed customer base,” said Stacey Pinkerd, head of global consumer debit products, Visa Inc. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with ICICI in identifying new opportunities to tailor Visa’s highly versatile debit platform to serve their customers and grow their global business,” he concluded.

In March 2008, ICICI Bank opened its first New York Branch in midtown Manhattan. ICICI Bank’s New York branch focuses on corporate banking, including working capital, treasury solutions, trade finance and long-term lending focusing on India-US business linkages, and the local banking needs of non-resident Indians.

About ICICI Bank Ltd: ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE: IBN) is India's largest private sector bank and the second largest bank in the country with consolidated total assets of over $95 billion as of March 31, 2009. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s leading private sector insurance companies and among its largest securities brokerage firms, mutual funds and private equity firms. ICICI Bank’s presence currently spans 19 countries, including India.

About Visa Inc.: Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, statements in this release, which contain words or phrases such as 'will', 'would', etc., and similar expressions or variations of such expressions may constitute 'forward-looking statements'. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to our ability to obtain statutory and regulatory approvals and to successfully implement our strategy, future levels of non- performing loans, our growth and expansion in business, the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses, technological implementation and changes, the actual growth in demand for banking products and services, investment income, cash flow projections, our exposure to market risks ICICI Bank undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof. ICICI Bank and the "I man" logo are the trademarks and property of ICICI Bank.

 

Source: Visa Inc. & ICICI Bank Ltd

ICICI Bank Ltd
Mr. Charudatta Deshpande, +91 22 26538208
charudatta.deshpande@icicibank.com
or
Visa Inc.
Jennifer Doidge, 415-932-2564
globalmedia@visa.com