KRBS Indian operation 'not working as it should'

Andy Golding, CEO of One Savings Bank
Andy Golding, CEO of One Savings Bank

Kent Reliance Banking Services is reviewing its operations in India.

The former building society that transformed last year into OneSavings Bank Plc and the mutual Kent Reliance Provident Society has faced criticism from members about its call centre in Bangalore.

Speaking at the annual meeting in Chatham, chief executive Andy Golding, pictured left, said: “The whole Indian operation is under review because it’s not working the way it should.”

Apart from call centre staff, KRBS uses highly qualified Indian employees for its back office processing, a move widely credited with lowering its expense ratio. It employs staff in both Bangalore and Pune.

KRBS, which had been making losses as a building society, has been strengthened by an £80m cash injection by J C Flowers, the private equity firm, since becoming a bank.

Malcolm McCaig said the capital injection had put the bank in “a position of strength that the building society could not have achieved on its own. The business is on its long road back to profitability”.

KRBS has resumed mortgage lending and achieved best buy rankings for some of its savings products. Mr Golding also confirmed that it had scrapped one-off savings account bonuses and new customer-only offers.

While the banking system was in turmoil, he said, KRBS – no longer shirt sponsor of Charlton Athletic, but supporting the club’s community trust – was building on its 150-year heritage.

It had reversed the strategy of closing branches, was opening new ones and refurbishing existing outlets.

Meanwhile, the annual accounts to December 2011 show that Mike Lazenby, the former chief executive who left suddenly on February 28, 2011 – soon after the new structure was introduced – was given a final salary package of £549,000.

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