SBI says Lehman exposure of $5 million fully provided...

India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday said it has a USD 5-million investment in the senior debt of bankrupt US bank Lehman Brothers, and has provided fully for it.

"We have an exposure of USD 5 million on account of investment in Lehman Brothers' senior debt. We have made a full provisioning of USD 5 million for that," a senior SBI official told PTI here.

This investment, however, would not have any major impact on SBI's book, the official said. "It was a tradeable portfolio that was gradually depreciating over the past weeks."

SBI's nearest competitor, ICICI Bank, had earlier said it has a total of around USD 80-million exposure in senior bonds of Lehman Brothers Inc and has already made a USD 12 million provisioning for that.

ICICI Bank plans to make an additional provisioning of USD 28 million "considering a 50 per cent recovery estimate", ICICI Bank Joint Managing Director Chanda Kochhar said in a statement here.

The private lender has also not been affected in a big way by the depreciation of its investment portfolio in Lehman, she maintained. "There is no other material impact on ICICI Bank or ICICI Bank UK PLC on account of exposure to Lehman Brothers."

Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest US securities house founded in 1850, Monday said it has filed for bankruptcy protection in New York after it failed to survive the global financial turmoil.

Source: The Hindu