J&K Bank shifts treasury operations from Mumbai to Srinagar

The Jammu and Kashmir Bank has, as part of its J&K centric strategic shift policy, decided to close its treasury operations in Mumbai and carry them out from the state's summer capital.

The J&K Bank started its treasury operations in Mumbai in 1999, but their full operation was only achieved in 2006 when the bank integrated its investment desks in Delhi and Srinagar with Mumbai.

The bank was able to maintain its strong investment and trading portfolio through treasury operations spread over a wide range of financial ventures including a direct or indirect role in almost every aspect of the balance sheet management like raising resources for funding purposes, liquidity management or investment of surplus liquidity.

The bank has over the years integrated the domestic treasury function with the foreign exchange treasury management under one roof and shifting their operations from Mumbai to Srinagar is seen as a major step in the state-centric strategic shift policy.

The major policy shift is aimed to create jobs in J&K as it is believed the work force requirement of the bank would increase two-fold in the next two years when the treasury operations become fully operational in Srinagar.

A strong treasury function requires an active presence in the inter-bank and money, gilt, bond, equity, foreign exchange and derivatives markets, but the decision to shift operations here has also been promoted by fact that technological advancement has provided seamless connectivity, convergence of telecommunication, broadcasting and multimedia, making geographies irrelevant.

Top bank officials said it has become imperative that in the changed global financial scenario, investment decisions are taken on real time basis by the top management through continuous interaction with other departments of the asset/liability management, risk management etc.

( With inputs from IANS )