Hyderabad: Corporation Bank, one of the largest public sector banks in India has opened its 950th branch at Film Nagar in Hyderabad on Wednesday. This is one of the three concept branches opened by the bank. The year 2007 saw an addition of 70 new branches to the existing network of Corporation Bank and the bank has set an aggressive target to open 100 more branches in the year 2008.

B Sambamurthy, CMD Corporation Bank said, "we have already secured clearance for the proposed 100 branches from the Reserve Bank of India. By May, the bank would take the number of branches and ATM counters to 1,000 each." The salient feature of this expansion will be extensive focus on South-Western and Northern parts of the country.

Corporation Bank was established in the year 1906, and has consistently been a profit making bank since its inception. The bank currently has a turnover of Rs. 84,000 crores with a 60:40 credit -deposit ratio. The bank is targeting a business of Rs. 1 lakh crore by next year, he added.

Concept Branch is a special branch where the bank unveils new technological initiatives for its customers. Keeping with the spirit, Corporation Bank introduced its Invest Shoppe experiences at the bank. This concept bank is equipped with a financial health check-up, which checks a customer's risk-reward portfolio and advises them on various financial products such as gold coins, loans, insurances and mutual funds. All these products will be available under one roof at this concept branch. These 'Invest Shoppe' branches are a part of the bank's strategy to bring more value adds to its customers and the bank expects to open 12 such branches by March and take this tally to 40 by the end of this year.

Corporation Bank has been a front-runner in the financial inclusion project mooted by the Reserve Bank of India and it has surveyed more than 1,200 villages in which branchless banking will be introduced with the help of 'business correspondents' armed with biometric devices and latest IT initiatives.

Corporation bank provides various financial products catering to personal and business needs and also issues a CorpBank International Credit Card with a low interest rate of 1.75 percent, which is also running a cash back offer. This special offer is valid from 2nd October 07 to 14th January 2008, to encourage the use of Corporation Bank credit cards and debit cards for purchases.