The Real ICICI

As we all know, ICICI has been expanding aggressively overseas and such efforts have been getting lot of good press in the Indian media. The bank seems to be offering higher than market rates for its deposits in UK and Canada.

The situation on the ground (in UK) seems to be slightly different. Hiring Shah Rukh as the brand ambassador is definitely not the solution to such problems. Let’s hope that they get their act in order.

But ICICI bank has recently come to the notice of many UK savers with the launch of its flagship HiSave account, which offers the generous rate of 5.4%, and guarantees to stay 0.25% above the base rate (currently 4.5%) until December 2007.

Despite the attractive rate, however, not all customers are happy. Bryan Goldstein and his wife opened an account, transferring £14,350 to take advantage of the high rate of interest in mid-August.

The money took ten days to arrive and the interest, which was supposed to be paid on the first day of the month, did not appear on his statement. Mr Goldstein called the bank and emailed the accounts manager every day for more than a week, but no reply was forthcoming. So he withdrew his money. As it turns out, the interest was accruing, but it does not appear on ICICI statements until the money has been in an account for a full month. Unfortunately this is not stated in the account's terms and conditions.