One of India's fast growing commercial banks has tied up with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) to improve the standards of its trade finance services, including letters of credit (L/Cs).

Oriental Bank of Commerce, which recently merged with Global Trust Bank and opened nine new branches in the six-months to September 2005, says the arrangement will benefit Indian importers.

L/C arrangements

Under the arrangement, 12 authorised OBC branches will issue import L/Cs to traders for East Asian countries against which SCB will re-issue local L/Cs.

The arrangement also envisages the two banks working together negotiating L/Cs.

Standard agreements

This is the latest in a string of partnerships SCB has forged in order to improve its service levels, according to SCB General Manager for South Asia, Jaspal Bindra.

"The tie-up with OBC is the ninth of such kind of arrangements as we focus on serving more Indian customers," Bindra said. The bank has already forged agreements with Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India and Corporation Bank.

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