CaixaBank expands into India for corporate banking

 

Spain's CaixaBank opened its first representative office in India on Wednesday as it looks to tap the growing needs of its Spanish clients expanding in one of the world's fastest growing major economies.

The company is looking to increase its market share of handling India-Spain trade to about 15 percent in another 2 years from a current 10 percent, Ignacio Alvarez-Rendueles, head of the bank's international operations told reporters in the Indian capital.

Trades between India and Spain totalled more than 4 billion euros in 2010, he said.

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, the world's richest man, stepped down from CaixaBank's board earlier this month to join the board at La Caixa affiliate Criteria CaixaHolding .

Slim bought almost 1 million shares in the lender just before its listing in July as part of a state-driven shake-up of Spain's banking system.