Reliance Money enters HK, China

June 3, 2008 · Filed Under Reliance Money · Comment 

HONG KONG: Reliance Money, the financial services intermediary of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, on Wednesday announced its foray into Hong Kong and China markets, in partnership with Goldride Securities, a leading Hong Kong-based brokerage.

At a press conference in Hong Kong, Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Goldride MD Anthony Espina said the partnership would open the Hong Kong and China markets for Indian investors and, likewise, help overseas investors gain exposure to the Indian markets.

“We now endeavour to reach out to the large base of NRIs and PIOs in Hong Kong and China with our cost-effective bouquet of products and broking and portfolio management services and help them participate in the India growth story,” Bandyopadhyay told DNA Money.

“Our eventual target is the 25 million NRIs and PIOs across the world who want to invest in Indian markets.”

Likewise, Reliance Money will refer its Indian clients who want to invest in the Hong Kong market to Goldride, he added. “If a person in Mumbai wants to invest in the Hong Kong market, he has to open an account with a Hong Kong broker. In our case, that broker will be Goldride. You can remit money to a Hong Kong bank - up to the permissible limits - and trade on Goldride’s platform.”

“There’s a tremendous interest among retail investors for investments in Hong Kong and China,” he said. Reliance Money’s foray was, he noted, the first initiative by an Indian broking and distribution company to offer a bouquet of financial products and services to retail investors in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Goldride offers Internet trading facilities to clients in Hong Kong, mainland China and Southeast Asia, and has an affiliate securities dealing company in the Philippines, as also trading arrangements with brokers in Singapore and Kazakhstan.

Espina said that the partnership would “augment our service portfolio and provide the NRI and PIOs in Hong Kong with a cost-effective and efficient platform to transact in Indian financial instruments. It will also help us utilise our expertise by providing enhanced investment tools.”

Read more: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1167111

Tags: , ,

We have a perfect fit in Goldride: Reliance Money

June 3, 2008 · Filed Under Reliance Money · Comment 

Reliance Money chief executive officer Sudip Bandyopadhyay spoke to DNA Money’s Venkatesan Vembu in Hong Kong on Wednesday, after announcing his company’s partnership with Goldride Securities of Hong Kong to offer financial services to retail investors in Hong Kong and China. Excerpts:

Why Hong Kong, and why now?

Hong Kong is important in three ways. One, it’s Asia’s financial hub. Sure, Singapore is big too, but in terms of financial market, it’s smaller than Hong Kong. Second, 60-70% of investors in India - FIIs, hedge funds and others - are operating from here. Third, we looked at the opportunities for Indian retail investors, and where their interests lie - and Hong Kong and China is a much bigger market.

Reliance Money debuts in Hong Kong

Why now? Because there’s no time like the present. Stock market valuations in India and China are more attractive today than they were, say, a year ago. In any case, I believe it’s not about timing the market but time in the market.

What does Goldride bring to the partnership?

I’ll tell you what we look for when we form partnerships globally. Reliance is big, and whichever market we go to, we will compete eventually with the Goldmans and Merrill Lynches… Therefore, while choosing partners, we look at people who are - and companies that are - of reasonably good size, have a clean reputation, and offer the possibility of helping us expand to new geographies.

With Goldride and with MD Anton Espina, we have a perfect fit. He has a professional background, is intimately involved in stock exchanges, and has made excellent inroads in China. He’s in the loop. We couldn’t have got anybody better.

By March 2008, you had plans to open 10,000 outlets in 5,165 cities and towns, but you appear to have fallen behind on that. What happened?

Towards the end of the year, we had the Reliance Power IPO, and we were preoccupied with that, and for a month we went slow on branch expansion. But even then, we have over 2 million customers and over 8,500 outlets in 4,250 locations. We’re pretty happy.

Is your client, typically, a day trader - who is drawn to you by your flat fee structure - or a long-term investor?

Both, actually. Day traders were the first to come, because they see a huge advantage with us. Even if they did not close their existing account, the heavy traders shifted to our platform to trade because of our attractive cost structure.

These days, day traders only use our platform. Even if they take the research input on another platform, they come to us and execute it! Which explains why even in this “bad” market, we have a turnover of over Rs 2,000 crore a day.

How much of small-town India is investing in equity markets?

The largest number of new applications from a single branch of Reliance Money was in Gorakhpur! That says something, even if value-wise, Ahmedabad and Mumbai are much higher.

I think people everywhere have realised that parking money in a bank FD is not going to take them anywhere. That realisation is sinking in. And they’re looking at alternatives.

What are the prospects for your other businesses - Shariat-compliant PMS and commodities trading?

Shariat-compliant PMS has a huge demand in India and has had a fabulous response in West Asia, where we have operations. The gold trading platform is to be launched soon. We feel it will be a big market. Today, there’s no organised spot market for gold. Bombay Bullion Association members still use the informal trading system, which is 200 years old.

There’s no formal trading platform - as there is for equity. There is no cash market that’s recognised, and the reference point for pricing is the London Bullion Market.

Now, India is by far the largest market for gold, so there’s no reason for us to take the pricing from London.

How do you respond to criticism from your clients that your customer service sometimes suffers? Do you think you’ve grown too fast for your good?

Not really. There’s a difference between customer service in some other industries and the broking industry. When you’re investing in a mutual fund there’s no ‘customer service’ involved beyond the purchase and redemption.

Likewise when you buy an insurance policy. But with broking, the setting up of the account is only the beginning of a relationship. It’s completely different. And because of that, sometimes, unrealistic expectations build up. I’ll give you an example.

The largest number of complaints we get is from people who say, ‘I’m not able to use your system.’ We tried to figure out what the problem was, and it turned out that in more than 95% of the instances, the person didn’t know how to use a computer. It’s like if you buy a car and tell me ‘gadi nahin chal raha hai’ - because you can’t drive a car!

Likewise, another category of complaints we get is that clients have a problem with fund transfer. Even there, the problem lies elsewhere. Since we are not a bank, we have tied up with banks, and with some banks, unfortunately, the fund transfer system is not so robust.

Read more: http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14683467

Tags: , ,

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Money Unit Plans Foray Into Hong Kong

June 3, 2008 · Filed Under Reliance Money · 1 Comment 

May 28 (Bloomberg) — Indian billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Money retail-broking unit began a foray into Hong Kong’s $400 billion fund-management market in partnership with a local broker.

The company, a division of Mumbai-based Reliance Capital Ltd., aims to manage investments in the South Asian nation for institutional investors and expatriate Indians living in Hong Kong and China, Chief Executive Sudip Bandyopadhyay said today.

Reliance Money is targeting a bigger share of the record $19.5 billion invested in India last year by overseas funds, more than double the funds invested in the previous year. About 70 percent of funds sent to India by institutional investors goes through Hong Kong, Bandyopadhyay said in an interview today.

Reliance Money is also wooing the 25 million Indians living outside the country. It earlier opened branches in the Middle East, and plans to set up an outlet in London within a few months, and in Singapore, the chief executive said.

In Hong Kong and China, Reliance aims to sell broking and wealth management services to expatriates with at least $50,000 through its alliance with Hong Kong-based Goldride Securities Ltd., Bandyopadhyay said. Goldride will also assist in transactions for resident Indians seeking to invest in Hong Kong and China, he said.

Hong Kong has at least 200 fund management companies managing more than $400 billion invested in Asia, including India, according to Reliance’s statement today.

Overseas operations will contribute 50 percent of Reliance Money’s revenue in five years, Bandyopadhyay said.

Sensitive Index

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, climbed for the sixth straight year in 2007 as investors tapped opportunities in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy. This year, the index has slipped 19 percent amid concerns that the growth may slow.

Within India, the company plans to grow its customer base of 2.2 million by tenfold, Bandyopadhyay said at a press conference in Hong Kong, without giving a timeframe.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aH2IrxKFdMN8&refer=india

Tags: , ,

India’s Reliance Money to set up operations in Hong Kong

June 3, 2008 · Filed Under Reliance Money · Comment 

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - India’s Reliance Money, a unit of Reliance Capital Ltd., said it plans to set up operations in Hong Kong and tap the Chinese market for distribution of its financial products to foreign institutional and retail investors in the region.

In a statement the company, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said it has partnered Hong Kong-based Goldride Securities Ltd. for its venture.

At 2:15 p.m. Reliance Capital was down 0.44 percent at 1,242.00 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the benchmark Sensex was up 0.68 percent at 16,386.09 points.

Read More: http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/05/28/afx5053117.html

Tags: , , ,

Reliance Money to enter Hong Kong through tie-up with Goldride

June 3, 2008 · Filed Under Reliance Money · Comment 

HONG KONG: Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s broking and distribution arm Reliance Money is looking at expanding its international presence to earn 50% of its revenue overseas in five years. The company is also planning to enter investment banking and wealth management businesses.

Reliance Money has entered into a tie-up with Hong Kong-based Goldride Securities for distributing financial products and services in that country. The tie-up will not result in the formation of a joint venture company but the two partners will share the earnings based on certain undisclosed terms and conditions.

“Hong Kong is the largest market in South East Asia. It offers great business opportunity and fewer business restrictions. We plan to service the entire region through our Hong Kong office,” said Reliance Money director and CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay, adding that the partnership is important because “this geography is new to us.”

“It will be a two-way traffic,” said Goldride Securities MD Anthony Espina. “We will have access to Reliance’s corporate clients and vice-versa,” he says. He said that the partnership will not be limited to broking. Big money lies in mergers and acquisitions.

We would like to take some deals to Reliance Money as well. India offers good M&A opportunity,” he said. Reliance Money may shortly launch its investment banking and wealth management business, Mr Bandyopadhyay confirmed. Meanwhile, the company plans to expand its operation in over 15 countries spread across Europe (London), North Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia by March 2009. It has already launched operation in the UAE, Oman and Hong Kong.

Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Banking_Finance_/Finance/Reliance_Money_to_enter_Hong_Kong_through_tie-up_with_Goldride_/articleshow/3081770.cms

Tags: ,