Is ICICI an Indian Bank… do xenophobic overtones hurt its custom? Blog Discussion

RobertoMoir

Mee wrote: »

I've had accounts with ICICI for three years now and never once has there been a problem. E-mail queries have been dealt with quickly and courteously which is more than I can say about some 'UK' and Republic of Ireland banks.

Well got to take things as you find them haven't you? I've banked with the same bank for years and they've always been very nice and polite and helpful to me despite the complaints that I see here and elsewhere about them. I don't doubt those complainers have had problems... but I haven't!

bonzer

I was in ICICI (instant access) for ages. It was only their rates dropping to uncompetitve levels that made me shift my money out and look elsewhere.

I'll admit the Indian thing did make me more reticent to start with because it's not a classic banking country. Spain just feels more financially solvent to me than India basically because it's a richer country. Also ICICI is a bad brand I think because it sounds close to BCCI who left a lot of people in the lurch in the UK in the early 1990s. I wonder whether people would incorrectly remember BCCI as Indian (it was a Pakistani bank).

If Martin hadn't recommended it I don't think I would have invested in ICICI on my own.

CrazyIndianZA

bonzer wrote: »

I'll admit the Indian thing did make me more reticent to start with because it's not a classic banking country. Spain just feels more financially solvent to me than India basically because it's a richer country. Also ICICI is a bad brand I think because it sounds close to

Will point out that Spain as an economy is not that far ahead of India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

and suspect in the current climate, Spain with its heavy reliance on construction is worse of India fiscally

In the interests of disclosure..while being of Indian origin, I have never been to India.

bonzer

CrazyIndianZA wrote: »

Will point out that Spain as an economy is not that far ahead of India.

Depends how you measure it. Per capita, India is a very poor country. Spain is significantly richer. India's country credit rating is also worse. Standard and Poor's puts it at BBB- versus Spain on AA+

I'm not saying it's numerically correct, it's just a feeling, that investing in an Indian bank doesn't feel as safe to me as investing in a Western European bank. As such I need additional assurance (like from Martin and UK government guarantees) to know it's OK.

By the same method I would previously have said Iceland was more likely to be stable. So much for gut instinct

CrazyIndianZA

yes, the same rating agencies that rate MBS

Stephen_Leak

Give ICICI their due.

Before it all went "pear shaped", I had savings accounts with them, Kaupthing (or Kaputhing, as I originally mistyped!) and Icesave.

Now I still have an account with them, plus ING. All other things remaining equal, once the bonus rate from ING ends, ICICI will have the highest rate of return going for a clean instant access savings account.

Fudge1977

MSE_Martin wrote: »

In many ways I am minded to only refer to a banks nationality when it does not have the full UK protection - otherwise distinctions are in many ways arbitrary.

I think that's the answer.

You could pop an ownership / group matrix somewhere on the site so if people are interested they could look it up easily? Maybe you have done that already as we are all now careful to keep <£50k in an institution.

Former_MSE_Dan

Hiya Fudge1977,

If you're interested in that, we've got a table on 'What counts as the same institution?' here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings#whatcounts

Hope that helps

Dan

JimmyTheWig

Is it also relevant in terms of where their call centre is?
ICICI is the only place that I deal with where I don't mind if they have a call centre in India. It's something I accept as they are Indian.

But also it gives the thing some context. Say "Abbey" and everyone knows what you are talking about. Say "ICICI" and most people don't. Actually the sentance "UK subsidiary of Indian bank ICICI (min. £1,000) is now joined by private bank Rothschild at 4.35% AER (min. £20,000)" is quite balanced - it explains a little detail about each of these two banks that otherwise we know little about.

organic_choc

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Is HSBC - floated in the UK but ultimately the "Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation" so Chinese
Martin

Calling HSBC Chinese is rather silly IMHO. All the British operations of HSBC back in 1993 were... wait for it... Midland Bank!! :rolleyes:

Let's look at the five British banks that are part of the Top 500 FT companies:
1 HSBC
2 Standard Chartered
3 Royal Bank of Scotland
4 Barclays
5 Lloyds Banking Group
Source: http://media.ft.com/cms/48f0d38e-4f49-11de-a692-00144feabdc0.pdf

The top two UK banks (HSBC and Standard Charter) are both note issuing banks in Hong Kong. Because of the currency peg (Hong Kong dollar is pegged to US dollar) it places restrictions on how these two banks may raise their cash from the public (as in from the money markets, not bank deposits). Now down to three. :cool:

I don't know how anyone can be 100% "Buy Brit" in banking as all banks have operations all around the planet. Say if you bank with RBS, RBS owns many things around the world. For instance it is one of the largest shareholders of HSBC. Like RBS it is one of the main seller of "mortages" for private jets and its clients are billionaires all around the world. Now down to two. :cool:

I am sure you can pretty much knock out the rest of the banks in Britain from your "Buy Brit" list if you look hard enough. If you look at the current account balance of UK - it hasn't been positive since 1984. Everything in UK is to a degree not owned by Brit and cannot be offsetted by Brit-owned items overseas.

Source: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2008/02/weodata/download.aspx

I don't think there is anything particularly good or particularly bad about it. Obviously there is great attractions on owning what you use, but on the other hand people would only lend to you if you're trustworthy.
:A