Geojit BNP Paribas forms a joint venture with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait
08 Aug 2011
Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd, India today said it had formed a joint venture with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) and leading Kuwaiti financial consulting firm JZ Associates LLC.
The new entity, BBK Geojit Securities KSC, will be headquartered in Kuwait City and will start operations initially with two offices. The new venture is expected to meet the needs of the growing NRI population in accessing Indian stock markets.
Abdulkarim Bucheery, CEO of BBK said, ''The NRI services desk of the Bank at Bahrain has been offering services relating to the Indian stock market to expats from the region with the support of Geojit BNPP.
He said the strong response had encouraged the bank to enhance the level of these activities, through a partnership with Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services along with JZ Associates LLC of Kuwait to benefit the expats from Kuwait.
BBK Geojit Securities KSC will offer services including brokerage services, depository services, and mutual funds of Indian Stock Markets.
The move by Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd is in line with its overall strategy of ramping up its presence in the booming Middle East region. Kuwait, with over 600,000 NRI population, is expected to be a lucrative market for the new venture and plans are afoot to increase its presence to 6 offices.
According to C J George, managing director, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, this joint venture in Kuwait with BBK is the latest step in our efforts to provide savings and investment services relating to the Indian stock market to NRIs in Kuwait who presently do not enjoy any such facility'
Jassem Hassan Zainal of JZ Associates says this new initiative of incorporating an exclusive company to offer broking services pertaining to the Indian stock market to expats would be a welcome change for the large NRI population of the region.
