MANAMA, Dec. 05, 2004
Gulf Daily News
ICICI Bank has joined hands with the US-based Russell Investment Group
to offer investment products to non-resident Indians (NRIs).
The bank will now offer the services to NRIs in Bahrain through its
branch at the Manama Centre, said general manager- Bahrain Ajay Sharma.
The Russell Investment Group, global leaders in multi-manager investments,
is offering its products and services in more than 35 countries.
This partnership will enable ICICI Bahrain to provide a range of customised
multi-manager investment solutions that offer access to the world's
leading investment managers, said Mr Sharma.
The bank is offering the new services globally to NRIs and people of
Indian origin, through its offshore branch in Singapore.
ICICI senior general manager and head of international banking Bhargav
Dasgupta announced the partnership in Singapore.
There are currently more than 20 million NRIs worldwide, representing
a huge potential market, he said.
ICICI Bank is the first Indian bank to offer international private
banking and has close linkages with and an understanding of the needs
of the international Indian diaspora, he added.
"The partnership with Russell provides us with an opportunity
to address the needs of our high net worth clients and deliver a world
class investment solution used by some of the world's largest institutional
investors," said Mr Dasgupta.
"These multi-manager portfolios will form the core component of
our investment proposition offered to our clients," he added.
Russell managing director Asia Bruce Pflaum said the new partnership
would ensure that ICICI Bank's NRI investors would have access to many
of the world's best investment managers whilst minimising the risk of
over-reliance on any single-manager approach.
"Russell will be responsible for continually managing and monitoring
the underlying investment managers within the investment programme,
making changes when it is deemed beneficial", he noted.
"The process is designed to reduce the need for clients to switch
between managed funds as the market environment favours or punishes
various investment styles, or as investment management organisations
change over time."
ICICI Bank will be responsible for the risk profiling and needs analysis
of its clients, making available the appropriate multi-manager solution,
processing the orders and ongoing client servicing.
Russell will be responsible for selecting investment managers, combining
them into complementary portfolios and continuous monitoring and management
of the portfolio.