Sharjah: The Bank of Sharjah plans to join forces with France's biggest lender BNP Paribas to tap the fast-growing Middle-Eastern market for the very rich, the company's general manager said yesterday.
The two banks are in the final stages of setting up a joint venture with possibly a 50-50 ownership structure to cover the Middle-Eastern private banking market, Bank of Sharjah's executive director and general manager told Reuters in an interview.
The number of high net worth individuals, usually those with investable assets of around $1 million (Dh3.67 million), in the Gulf region is expected to grow about 6 per cent between 2008 and 2013, despite a recent drop as a result of the financial crisis.
"To tap the potential of the region [Middle East] you need the local know-how and in order to be credential you need the expertise of a solid bank like BNP Paribas," said Varouj Nerguizian at the bank's headquarters in Sharjah.
Access to funds
"The idea is to serve wealthier high net worth customers directly from the Gulf ... we have access to money that they [BNP] cannot have ... it's easier for us because we are a local bank and we know the people better," Nerguizian said.
The BNP Paribas deal would become the latest example of a local bank teaming up with a European counterpart.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank earlier in March announced a private banking partnership with Schroder & Co Bank, a subsidiary of Schroders, one of the world's biggest asset managers.
Middle Eastern banks in recent years have slowly started to develop their private banking franchise in a market that is dominated by foreign players such as Citigroup and HSBC.
Bank of Sharjah is a mostly UAE-focused corporate lender with a market value of $1.1 billion.
