NDB Bank acquires NDB Housing Bank

NDB Housing Bank is now an integral part of the NDB Bank following Central Bank approval for a merger of the two institutions. Earlier, NDB Bank had a 30 percent ownership and the balance 70 percent was owned by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Housing Development Finance Corporation of India (HDFC India). The Central Bank approved the purchase of the balance shares by the NDB Bank.

Explaining the effects of the merger, NDB Bank Chairman S. K Wickremasinghe said that it will result in a more focused effort to market home loans through the NDB Bank branch network. "The consumers will benefit immensely with home loans being offered through the wide branch network of the Bank", he said.

With the merger, the Bank will cater to the housing needs of a wide range of customers. Employees of corporates, professionals, self-employed businessmen and even non-resident Sri Lankans who are employed abroad will be able to make use of the Home Loan facility.

Home loans will be structured according to the needs of each individual customer. Customers could borrow as much as they can if the repayment capacity permits. These loans can be obtained for construction, extension, purchase of a house, home improvement or to purchase land. Interest will be calculated monthly on the reducing balance.

Customers will be able to obtain home loans from any of the 27 branches of the NDB Bank in key locations covering the Colombo city, suburbs and key provincial towns.

Functioning as a specialised bank for housing, the NDB Housing Bank recorded a steady growth over the years to build a housing loan portfolio of 2.0 billion rupees.

With the merger NDB Bank will continue to strengthen its position as a full service commercial bank which offers a wide range of commercial banking products and services including housing loans.

This is the second merger of NDB Bank for the past 13 months. In August 2005 the National Development Bank and NDB Bank Ltd (former ABN Amro Bank) merged to form NDB Bank with combined assets totalling Rs.60 billion, making it the fifth largest bank in terms of assets.