The Hindu : Business : Union Bank in pact with Belgium firm for MF venture

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Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
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Union Bank in pact with Belgium firm for MF venture

— PHOTO: PAUL NORONHA

CREATING SYNERGIES: M. V. Nair (left), Chairman and Managing Director, Union Bank of India, with Jean M. Deboutte (centre), Ambassador of Belgium, and Danny De Raymaeker, Director, KBC Asset Management, at a function in Mumbai on Monday.

MUMBAI: Union Bank of India has entered into an agreement with Belgium-based KBC Asset Management NV to form a joint venture asset management company in India.

Union Bank would have a 51-per cent stake in the joint venture company, while KBC would hold 49 per cent, UBI Chairman and Managing Director M. V. Nair told reporters here on Monday.

“Banks are looking at various opportunities for creating synergies among their different lines of businesses... Over the next five years, the Indian retail mutual funds industry is expected to grow at 35-42 per cent CAGR,” Mr. Nair said. With this, the industry was expected to witness an addition of 90-lakh new retail mutual fund customers during the period, he said.

UBI had plans to use 1,000 of its branches for the mutual funds venture in the initial phase and scale up to include all branches in the future, an UBI official said. Union Bank planned to recruit around 500 marketing executives to strengthen its team for the mutual funds business and was expected to announce the top management of the new company in the next few months. The new entity is expected to get operational in the next 3-6 months. — PTI

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