Manian pointed out that Federal Bank’s CASA (Current Account/Savings Account) ratio stands at 24/6—24% savings accounts and 6% current accounts. “The 24% savings account is fairly in the right zone vis-à-vis peers. The 6% current account is where the difference is, and that is the opportunity,” he said.
The bank plans to increase current account deposits by using its existing network more effectively. Since current accounts usually carry lower costs than term deposits, improving this share can strengthen margins without additional investment.
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Customer acquisition is usually expensive for banks, but Federal Bank has a strong base of non-resident customers who have been banking with them for generations. Manian sees this as an opportunity to offer more financial products, particularly in investment services.
“These are customers who are very loyal to us. Sometimes second, and third generations of those customers are banking with us. If we make an offer to them on the wealth side, I am sure we have their trust that they will buy those products from us,” he explained.
Manian sees leading Federal Bank as an exciting challenge and believes the bank is in a strong position to grow further. “I wanted to be the captain of my own ship,” he said.
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He believes Federal Bank has already pulled ahead of many older private sector banks and is on track to become one of the top private lenders in India. “Very well poised, great journey, pulled out of the pack of old private sector banks, clearly leagues ahead. Just the breakthrough into the top league is possible. That story excited me,” he added.
While he did not set specific targets, Manian said that having a clear direction matters more than focusing on exact numbers. “The vision needs some stretch, and I am sure the team owns it. We should lie somewhere amongst the top 5 or 6 banks,” he stated.
Federal Bank, which has a market capitalisation of ₹44,437.90 crore, has seen its shares rise over 19% in the past year.
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(Edited by : Shweta Mungre)
