Emirates Financial Services (EFS), a subsidiary of the Emirates Bank Group, has joined with India's ICICI Group to distribute the ICICI’s range of personal finance products to Indian expatriates living in the Gulf markets.
The ICICI portfolio will include home, automobiles and personal loans, access to mutual funds, Internet banking and trading in Indian stocks. A dedicated sales team is being put in place now at EFS to market the ICICI retail portfolio.
The market potential of the new venture is apparently massive. Suresh Kumar, general manager of Emirates Financial Services, said a recent study showed that two-thirds of all banking accounts across the Gulf are held by non-resident Indians. Personal accounts held by Indian expatriates with Emirates Bank International (EBI) are estimated to account for about 40 percent of the overall number of accounts held at the bank.
The joint venture will begin offering these services on October 1, by when all the regulatory approvals from the other Gulf markets and India should be received.
"The initial focus for the present alliance will be the UAE, and in another six months we expect to widen the catchment area to the other Gulf markets, including Saudi Arabia,” said Kumar, as quoted by Gulf News. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
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