Bank of India is planning to diversify its operations by foraying into mutual fund business – reported The Economic Times. Reportedly, the state run bank is in talks with some foreign players to form a joint venture.

BA Prabhakar, executive director of Bank of India, said: “We are looking for a partner to set up a mutual fund subsidiary. The bank is in talks with a few foreign players to set up a joint venture for the asset management business.”

He added that the bank would retain majority stake in the newly formed asset management company and once the bank zeroes in on a partner, the shareholding pattern and other modalities would be taken care of, reported the newspaper.

Earlier it has been reported that IDBI Bank and Union Bank of India had approached market regulator, SEBI to get licence to venture into the asset management space.