Finance website This Is Money recently reported that international Indian finance institution the Bank of Baroda is set to begin issuing its first ever ISAs by the end of this coming year.
The international bank has begun to pursue a plan to expand into the overseas markets, and commented that it has started to move forward on its plans to both open and identify an additional number of branches and other financial centres overseas in order to better serve the over 36 million customers it has around the globe.
The Bank of Baroda already possesses a strong foothold in the UK market in regards to fixed-rate bonds; in fact its five year fixed rate Baroda MAX bond, which has a 4.9 per cent rate attached to it, is the current top of the best buy tables on financial comparison site moneysupermarket.com.
The India-based bank could face some stiff competition in the future of the ISA market, especially from both Bank of Scotland and Halifax, as, according to the comparison site’s figures, the two financial services providers currently offer a 4.25 per cent ISA product with a four year fixed term.
While Bank of Baroda may not be a household name in Britain, the Indian personal and business bank account provider, which is the third largest in its home country, has in fact been in operation since 1908, and has been operating in the UK since 1957.
Across India, the bank has over 3,000 branches, and overseas it has 74 branches in 25 different foreign countries; with six located in London and one each in Leicester, Manchester, and Birmingham, there are nine branches alone in the UK and have been serving the needs of the British Indian community for over sixty years.