BBK, Bahrain’s pioneer in retail and commercial banking, on Saturday signed an agreement with the Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd (India) and JZ Associates LLC (Kuwait) to form a new joint venture.
BBK will 40% stake while other two entities will have 30% each stake in this entity which primarily targets the 600,000 NRIs in Kuwait.
The new entity, BBK Geojit Securities KSC, will be headquartered in Kuwait City and will initially start operations with two offices .The Company will meet the needs of the burgeoning NRI population in accessing the Indian capital markets. As one of India’s leading financial services provider, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd with its experience and technical capabilities along with the established presence of BBK and the reputation of JZ Associates LLC, offers a unique opportunity to the NRI population to participate in the Indian Capital Markets. BBK Geojit Securities KSC will offer services including Brokerage services, Dematerialisation Consultancy 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 is expected to be a lucrative market for the new venture and plans are afoot to increase its presence to six offices.
“BBK has completed 25 years of banking in India predominantly serving the NRIs from the GCC countries. NRI services desk of the Bank at Bahrain has been offering services relating to Indian stock market to expats from the region. Encouraged by the good response and to further enhance the level of these activities, BBK has taken initiative to forge a partnership with India’s leading stock market services company, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd along with JZ Associates LLC, a highly reputed Financial consulting firm from Kuwait,” Abdulkarim Bucheery, Chief Executive of BBK, said.
“Geojit BNP Paribas has been expanding its footprint in GCC countries over the last decade. This Joint Venture in Kuwait with BBK is the latest step in our efforts to provide savings and investment services relating to Indian Stock Market to NRIs in Kuwait who presently do not enjoy any such facility,” C. J. George, Managing Director, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd, said.
Jassem Hassan Zainal of JZ Associates LLC, a leading Financial Consulting firm in Kuwait, said, BBK NRI Services at Kuwait has a long presence in Kuwait offering wide range of Banking products to Expats. This new initiative of incorporating an exclusive company to offer broking services pertaining to Indian Stock Market to Expats would be a welcome change for the large expat population of the region.