Kotak Mahindra Bank entered into a MoU with Dutch bank ING Bank providing for the two institutions to cooperate and explore opportunities arising from cross border business, investment and trade flows across Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. The MoU documents were signed by representatives of the two entities in the presence of Mark Rutte, prime minister of Netherlands. Kotak Mahindra Bank had acquired ING Vysya Bank, which had an alliance with ING Group in November 2014. As part of the merger deal, the two banks had agreed to explore areas of cooperation in cross-border business. The merger had brought together two strong players in the industry to form a more robust and fundamentally sound bank, and this MoU further strengthens the complementarities. The MoU covers an array of co-operation areas such as trade finance, remittances and services related to NRIs, Nostro and Vostro accounts, funding to counterparties’ corporate relationships, fee-based products (including but not limited to foreign exchange, letters of credit, and guarantees), direct banking and digital strategy, and cross-border debt capital markets and M&A. Uday Kotak, executive vice chairman and MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said the merger of ING Vysya Bank with Kotak Mahindra Bank was driven by the growth potential emerging from our complementarities. This MoU is one such opportunity and it opens a window of opportunities, offering international exposure and enabling us to learn global best practices. K.V.S. Manian, president – Corporate, Institutional & Investment Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said the MoU will leverage the strengths of both institutions and will be mutually beneficial. Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING said the cooperation between the two banks will give clients from the Netherlands and the other 39 countries where ING is active in commercial banking an access to Kotak’s services in the vast Indian market while at the same time it will offer the combined clients in India the opportunities of ING’s international network.
