First Gulf targets expats in India tie-up

COMPLEX NEEDS: First Gulf bank says the differentiated needs of Indian expatriates provide the company with a “host of wealth management opportunities”.

First Gulf Bank said on Wednesday it would partner with Indian lender Kotak Mahindra Finance to make it easier for expatriate Indians living in the UAE to send money to and invest in India.

Indians make up the largest community of expatriates in the UAE, an oil-exporting federation that includes Dubai, and where foreigners make up more than 80% of the population.

Under the deal, First Gulf, the second-biggest Abu Dhabi lender by market value, would offer brokerage and insurance products for more than 250 mutual funds in India and allow customers to send remittances directly to accounts at Kotak. A dedicated ‘Value Account’ would enable customers to hold savings in both banks in UAE dirhams and the Indian rupee.

Mufazzal Kajiji, head of wealth management at First Gulf, said the “complex and differentiated needs of Indian expatriates” provided the company with a “host of wealth management opportunities”.

Kotak Mahindra Finance is part of the $1.3 billion Kotak Mahindra Bank, India's third-biggest private bank.

Qatar's Doha Bank signed a deal in November with Kotak Mahindra Asset Management to market its mutual funds in Qatar, home to the world's third-biggest natural gas reserves.

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