Bank of India to re-enter MF biz by early-2012

State-owned lender Bank of India today said it will be re-entering the mutual fund business by January 2012 and is presently in talks with multiple players for a strategic partnership for the venture.

The city-headquartered bank's Chairman and Managing Director Alok Misra said the bank hopes to seal the proposed joint venture by "end of second quarter" or September 2011.

"After 2-3 months (after September) we should start (operations)...say December or January we should start," Misra told reporters here, stating that the bank's network consisting of over 3,000 branches will help the new venture.

"We have been already selling other mutual funds through our branches and feel getting into it by ourselves will be beneficial," he added.

Misra, however, declined to share further details, merely saying that talks are on to get a "strategic partner". He parried the question when asked if the strategic partner would be a domestic or a foreign institution.

BoI, which according to media reports is looking for a majority stake in the JV, had first entered the MF industry in 1990 by launching six schemes but subsequently exited the business.

A majority of top lenders in the country, including SBI, ICICI and HDFC have a presence in the mutual fund or asset management company space and leverage on their respective networks to grow.