India’s Federal Bank to enter Bahrain, Kuwait

The South India based private sector lender Federal Bank has received the regulatory nod to open offices in Bahrain, Kuwait and Singapore, but is awaiting local clearances before it starts operations, a top official has said.

The Kochi-headquartered bank, which leads Indian diaspora remittances, already has representative offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and its desire to expand comes even as a majority of its larger peers are downsizing their overseas presence following the Rs 13,500-crore ($2 billion) Nirav Modi scam and poor asset quality back home due to toxic loans.