Qatari lender Doha Bank and Indian financial services firm Centrum Group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to scale up each other's business in India and the GCC region in the areas of wealth management, banking, and forex.
The partnership will allow Doha Bank to use Centrum’s expertise to expand its India presence, whereas Centrum will use the lender’s network to scale up its presence in the GCC countries.
Doha Bank, which set up its presence in India in April 2015, offers a range of banking services such as corporate and retail banking, treasury, and foreign exchange services. The bank also has operations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, alongside representative offices in Singapore, London, Turkey, Korea, Tokyo, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Bangladesh, China, Frankfurt, Sharjah and Hong Kong.
Commenting on the new alliance, Doha Bank group CEO R Seetharaman said: “Doha Bank has significant plans for growing its India business. We recently launched our third branch in India and are keen to venture into the areas of Wealth Management and Forex.
“We believe this partnership will enable us to introduce our bouquet of products in India and simultaneously give our GCC clients the opportunity of investing in Indian markets becoming a part of the India growth story”
Centrum has 125 branches in 48 cities of India. The company has expertise across equity & debt spectrum with capabilities in equity capital markets, m&a advisory, corporate finance & advisory, primary & secondary debt placement, project finance and corporate debt restructuring. Its retail unit offers integrated solutions for private wealth management, portfolio management, stock broking and foreign exchange.
Centrum Group chairman Jaspal Bindra said: “The alliance with Doha Bank will enable us to offer our services to international corporate clients as well as NRIs based in the GCC countries. Doha Bank can leverage our extensive HNI and Corporate client base to expand their operations here. India offers excellent growth opportunities in wealth management & banking areas. Moreover, there exists a common synergy between both organisations and we hope to benefit from each other’s expertise.”
