Confirming the decision, a spokesperson of the bank was quoted by Business Standard as saying, "ICICI Bank is in the process of closing down two branches in the UK that cater to less than 2 per cent of the bank’s retail customer base in that country."
"This move is in line with customers’ preference to increasingly interact with the bank electronically, and, therefore, the move reflects the way customers do business with the bank," the spokesperson added.
The customers of these two offices located in Coventry and Slough, will be transferred to the main branches, the spokesperson said. ICICI Bank UK currently manages 11 bank branches in the UK, and a branch each in Belgium and Germany.
In March 2013, the lender said that it had received capital repatriation, including redemption of $50m of preference share capital and return of $50m of equity capital from its UK subsidiary.
At the closing of 31 March 2013, the UK business had $3.59bn in total assets, compared to $3.98bn at the end of December 2012.
Additionally, it has also received C$75m capital repatriation from its Canadian subsidiary in May 2013, where it manages nine bank branches.
At 31 March 2013, the bank managed a network of 3,377 branches and 10,943 ATMs in India, and has operations in 19 countries.
