India

Amid reports that talks with Standard Chartered Bank failed over valuation of the assets, ABN Amro bank’s spokesperson said: “RBS is in ongoing discussions with bidders for the remaining assets it has decided to sell in Asia and will make further announcements, as appropriate, in due course” . ABN Amro Bank, was acquired by RBS in 2007, according to a report in The Statesman.ABN Amro’s dismal $1319 profit per employee figure and NPAs amounting to 2.2 % of its assets in 2008-09 compel RBS to talk to bidders. According to RBI data on comparative performance of banks, ABN Amro did not do well on various parameters as compared to other major foreign banks operating in India. Among the important performance parameters, it witnessed a sharp decline in profit per employee to Rs 0.62 lakh ($1319) in the year of 2008-09 from the Rs 7.66 lakh ($16,298) in the previous year. The business per employee figure is an indicator of the efficiency and productivity in a company. For ABN Amro its amount is significantly below the average of Rs 24.78 lakh ($52,723) recorded by 30 foreign banks operating in the country. Besides, low employee profitability, ABN Amro Bank also witnessed sharp increase in its net non-performing asset (NPA) ratio, suggesting a sharp spurt in bad loans. The net NPAs of the bank rose to 2.2 per cent of its assets in 2008-09 from 0.85 per cent, which is only a shade better than the crisis-ridden Citibank.