BBK forms new Joint Venture in Kuwait

BBK- Bahrain’s pioneer in retail and commercial banking- has announced that they have come to an agreement with the Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd (India) and JZ Associates LLC (Kuwait) to form a new joint venture. 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, 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 six offices. Mr. Abdulkarim Bucheery, Chief Executive of BBK said\" 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\". He also stated that the expats from Kuwait would benefit from this initiative. Mr. C. J. George, Managing Director, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd said, \'Geojit BNP Paribas has been expanding it\'s 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\' Mr 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.