Postal Department receives great response

NEW DELHI: Within a fortnight of the launch of the unique service to sell internationally certified gold coins through its vast network of post offices, the Department of Posts (DoP) has received overwhelming response from people.

“Thanks to the ongoing festive season, we have been able to do brisk business. So far, over 20 kgs of gold worth over Rs.2.6 crore has been sold through 100-odd post offices spread in five states. The sale of gold coins was particularly good on the Dhanteras day when people buy gold. We have also offered a five per cent discount this festive season,” informed a senior DoP official.

Initially, the DoP has started this service in five states -- Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Punjab -- on pilot basis, and soon the service would be made available across India.

India Post has launched this venture in association with World Gold Council and Reliance Money. World Gold Council is helping in marketing the Swiss Medallions supplied by Reliance Money.

The 24-karat gold coins, packed in a sealed cover with the certification from renowned Valcambi in Switzerland, are available in weights of 0.5 gram, 1 gram, 5 grams and 8 grams.

“The sale of 5 gms coins has been the maximum, with Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra leading the list. In Punjab, where the service was launched a few days before Diwali, the response has also been good. After reviewing the sales figure of the festive season, the sale of gold coins will be extended to other states as well, starting from mini-metros and towns,” the official added.

Competitively priced

Stating that the prices of these gold coins are competitively priced based on the prevailing market prices, the official said: “Gold coins available through our post offices carry internationally recognised certification and has low risk of duplication. Our post offices that are known for its trust and reliability will serve as an ideal location for the people to buy quality gold coins.”

Wall Street Fin inducts Sudip on Board

MUMBAI: Wall Street Finance today announced its un-audited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. The performance highlights are:


* Operational Review for the Quarter ended September 30, 2008

* Total income of Rs. 929.45 lakhs, against Rs. 713.78 lakhs in the corresponding period, an increase of 30.22 per cent

* Net profit of Rs. 24.67 lakhs, against Rs. 9.73 lakhs in the corresponding period, an increase of 153.55 per cent

The Company also inducted Mr. Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Director & CEO, Reliance Money,Mr. S. P. Talwar, Retired Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India and Mr. Rajnikant Patel,Ex-Executive Director & CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange on its Board.

“We are very pleased with this strategic tie-up with Reliance Money Express. We strongly believe that this tie-up will help us build on synergies and propel our recently launched Investment Services further,” said Mr. Areef Patel, Vice Chairman, Wall Street Finance Ltd.

"I am pleased to join the Wall Street Finance Board. We are confident that this association will capitalise on the strength of both Reliance Money Express and Wall Street Finance, paving the way for a new chapter in the financial services sector in the country,” said Mr. Bandyopadhyay, newly inducted Director of Wall Street Finance.

Wall Street Finance Ltd. (WSFL) was set-up in 1986 as a Public Limited Company and is today a leader in Foreign Exchange and Money Remittance services in the country. The Company has a market capitalisation of approximately Rs. 40 crore and a 3-year dividend track record. It is the only deposit-taking NBFC (D) that also has an Authorised Dealer-II licence. This prestigious licence has been issued to the Company based on its 15-year-old track record in the field of foreign exchange as well as strict compliance policies adopted by the Company. This has now opened a large market for the Company, in the field of foreign exchange, which was earlier restricted to banks. The Company is now able to offer Outward Remittance Services for a wide range of activities. To capitalise on the huge opportunity in both Inward and Outward Remittance, WSFL is expanding its network by opening more branches across the country.

The Company is one of the principal agents of Western Union Money Transfer and operates over 3500 locations for Money Transfer. It has now got into Investment Services as a distributor of various Wealth Management Products of Reliance ADAG.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, CEO of Reliance Money, on Wall Street Finance Board

Wall Street Finance has inducted Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Director and CEO of Reliance Money, S P Talwar, Retired Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and Rajnikant Patel, Ex-Executive Director and CEO of Bombay Stock Exchange on its board as directors.

Reliance Money Express (RME), an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, has gained control of Wall Street Finance last week.

Wall Street Finance on also reported over two-fold jump in net profit at Rs 24.67 lakh for the quarter ended September 30. The company had a net profit of Rs 9.73 lakhs in the same period a year ago, the foreign exchange and money remittance services provider said in a statement.

“We are very pleased with this strategic tie-up with Reliance Money Express. We strongly believe that this tie-up will help us build on synergies and propel our recently launched Investment Services further,” Wall Street Finance Vice-Chairman, Areef Patel said.

Bandyopadhyay, the newly inducted Director of Wall Street Finance said, “I am pleased to join the Wall Street Finance Board. We are confident that this association will capitalise on the strength of both Reliance Money Express and Wall Street Finance, paving the way for a new chapter in the financial services sector in the country”.

ADAG acquires stake in Forex company 'Wall Street Finance'

India-based Reliance ADAG (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) is entering foreign exchange currency business by acquiring 33.5% stake in Wall Street Finance, part of the House of Patels.

The House of Patels owns about 65% stake in the publicly held Wall Street Finance. In a similar deal, in 2005, House of Patels had sold 60% stake in Wall Street Exchange (WSE) to Emirates Post (Empost). Discussions are also on with Reliance for USA and Canada markets. ADAG finalized the Wall Street Finance deal very fast based on the upward trend in the current exchange market. Empost was given first choice for taking up stake in Wall Street Finance.

House of Patels in also now interested in completely selling off its remaining stake in the company and currently is in discussion with its majority stakeholder Empost. Wall Street Exchange Centre is operating in UAE since 1982.

Earlier through this deal Emirates Post has further strengthened its presence in financial services. Wall Street Exchange Centre, UAE, is a dynamic player in the Exchange and Remittance Business. The company also shares a correspondent relationship with over 80 countries worldwide and has over 1,000 agent locations in India alone, promoting its services.

Mr. Asgar Patel, Chairman and founder of the House of Patels, said:

'We at the House of Patels are proud to have developed such a powerful brand in the money exchange business both in UAE and India and also worldwide through our large network. I am sure the brand will have a new flavour in the days to come based on the wealth of experience Reliance Money has gathered over the years. We are confident that we can create another great success story as we have done it in UAE with Wall Street Exchange and Emirates Post.'

Wall Street Finance, set up in 1986, is an authorised dealer Forex-II (which means they can offer foreign remittance as well as money changing services). It is one of the principal agents of Western Union Money Transfer and operates over 3,500 locations for money transfer. Wall Street Finance is registered with Reserve Bank of India as a Non-Banking Finance Company and has over 38 branches spread across India.

Wall Street Exchange Centre has been one of the market leaders in money exchange and bank note activities. Its activities include buying and selling of more than 100 types of currencies. It has a strong presence in the foreign currency wholesale market and is considered as the exchange company for other exchange houses, banks and business houses. It is also a leader in the Travelers Cheques product category. Wall Street Exchange Centre has a separate Wholesale Bank Note Department, complemented by a full-fledged department linked to a Reuters dealing system.

Reliance Money Express was formed after Reliance acquired Travelmate Services, a part of Kuoni Group, in November 2006. The company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital. The company has been in the money transfer services (MTS) and full-fledged money changing (FFMC) business in the country since 1993.

Mr. Patel built his empire with Patel roadways, the logistics arm of the company and is rated as one of India's best and one of the largest transport companies with over 350 branches and 8000 people. House of Patels is a multi million-dollar conglomerate with interest in diversified fields including Transportation, Logistics, Finance, Constructions, Courier and Real Estate Developments.

India Post ties up with Reliance Money to sell gold coins at post office

India Post has tied up with Reliance Money and World Gold Council to sell gold coins through its post office network across the country.

The pilot project has been launched on Wednesday and it will make gold coins available across 100 post offices in four states — Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. However going forward it would be available for sale at all the 155,000 post offices across the country.

“We have initiated the process to commercialise the post offices and increase their visibility,” said A Raja, Union Minister of IT and Telecom. Reliance Money will act as the vendor to provide certified coins that are 99.99 per cent pure in four denominations of 0.5 gm, 1 gm, 5 gm and 8 gm.

“This should go up as we have tied with India Post which is the most trusted organisation and is biggest retail network with 1,55,000 post offices,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, chief executive officer, Reliance Money. “We will train the post office employees and we are confident of the delivery channel.”

“In the long term, considering the demand supply economics, gold is only expected to go up, as there are no new gold mines coming up and so the supply remains constrained,” said a gold expert who did not wish to be named.

ADAG a step away from full banking

Reliance Money Express buys big chunk of Wall Street Finance to benefit from a prized deposit-taking-NBFC licence and also the more precious Authorised Dealer-II, which is a licence for outward remittances’ business. De facto, Reliance Money will become a bank without a chequebook

MUMBAI: Reliance Money Express (RME), an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, has gained control of Wall Street Finance, a Bombay Stock Exchange-listed company in the forex remittance business by becoming its largest shareholder.

Reliance Money is all set to become a co-promoter of Wall Street Finance through a merger amalgamation scheme with Wall Street Constructions, a promoter group company, which owns 33.54% stake in Wall Street Finance.

By becoming the largest shareholder of Wall Street Finance, which has a market capitalisation of Rs 45 crore and a 3-year dividend track record, Reliance Money Express has given parent Reliance Capital two crucial cogs that were missing from its financial conglomerate superstructure —- an RBI licence to function as a deposit-taking NBFC (D) and an Authorised Dealer-II licence, which is an outward remittance licence, granted to a handful of limited entities.

These two, very very precious licences make Reliance Money literally a bank sans a cheque book. There are only a handful entities in India with an AD-II licence.

The Bombay High Court has given the consent and approval, subject to certain formalities, according to the court’s website.

The court approval will pave way for Reliance ADAG representatives to get on the Wall Street Finance board, which is slated to meet later this month.

In a missive to the BSE, Wall Street Finance said on Wednesday that it will discuss the appointment of additional directors and revamping and /or restructuring the board of directors during the board meeting on October 30.

With the proposed revamp, ADAG is also likely to take active part in the management of the company.

Reliance Money enters into forex remittance business with controlling stake in Wall Street Finance

Reliance Money Express (RME), an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, has gained control of Wall Street Finance, a Bombay Stock Exchange-listed company in the forex remittance business by becoming its largest shareholder.

Reliance Money is all set to become a co-promoter of Wall Street Finance through a merger amalgamation scheme with Wall Street Constructions, a promoter group company, which owns 33.54% stake in Wall Street Finance.

By becoming the largest shareholder of Wall Street Finance, which has a market capitalisation of Rs 45 crore and a 3-year dividend track record, Reliance Money Express has given parent Reliance Capital two crucial cogs that were missing from its financial conglomerate superstructure —- an RBI licence to function as a deposit-taking NBFC (D) and an Authorised Dealer-II licence, which is an outward remittance licence, granted to a handful of limited entities.

ADAG eyes AIG’s Asian life insurance business

NEW DELHI: Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is looking to buy out the Asian insurance business of AIG. If it goes through, the deal — which would exclude AIG’s Indian businesses — would make Reliance South-East Asia’s largest life insurer. It could well be the second-largest overseas buyout by an Indian firm. ADAG is likely to be one of several bidders looking to buy these AIG businesses.

Sources told ET that the asking price for American International Assurance Company (AIA), AIG’s wholly-owned arm, has been pegged at around $10 billion. Sources said Citibank, acting on behalf of AIA, has approached ADAG to buy out AIA. AIA is AIG’s flagship life insurance company for South-East Asia and is the largest life insurer in the region with businesses across South East Asia.

Last month, the US nationalised AIG which was on the brink of collapse with an $85-billion loan and restructured its top management. This was followed by another $38 billion last week. Now, the insurance giant is 80%-owned by the US government.

Last year, Tata Steel had acquired Anglo-Dutch steel major Corus for $12 billion and Hindalco had acquired Novelis for around $7 billion. In comparison, Indian financial services firms have been rather conservative in their international acquisitions.

In most geographies, AIG operates as AIA while in some markets like Australia and New Zealand, it functions as AIG.

When contacted, the R-ADAG spokesperson declined to comment. Sources, however, told ET that the group is interested in the deal, given AIA’s dominance in the region.
The Indian group has been spreading its financial services businesses overseas through Reliance Money, the retail brokerage and distribution arm of Reliance Capital. The company recently acquired 15% stake in Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, which came on the back of a partnership with local firm Goldride Securities, for distributing financial products and services.

Reliance Money, which is looking to generate half of its revenue from abroad by 2013, is actively expanding operations in the Middle East.

Top group executives are currently evaluating options and likely to take a decision soon. “Chances of a deal are 50:50. R-ADAG could be looking at a modest valuation, in the $5-6 billion range. The deal is still at a nascent stage, and there’s no certainty that it will go through,” said a source.

R-ADAG already has a life insurance venture in India — Reliance Life Insurance — which is an associate company of Reliance Capital, the flagship financial services firm of the group, which has interests in asset management, stock broking, insurance, proprietary investments, private equity and other activities in financial services.

In India, AIG has a 24:76 life insurance joint venture with the Tatas. This business is unlikely to be part of the proposed deal with Reliance-ADAG, as the Tatas may have a right of first refusal in any sale by AIG.

AIG, which had assets in excess of $1 trillion in 2007, has been looking to sell parts of its businesses and assets and focus on the core general insurance business. AIG’s move to sell AIA is at variance with its earlier statement to retain a continuing ownership interest in its foreign life insurance operations.

Life insurance and retirement services business is the largest revenue generator for AIG. Out of the total revenues of $110 billion in 2007, life insurance generated $53.6 billion and general insurance $51.7 billion. Asset management and other financial services are comparatively smaller business areas of AIG globally.

In 2007, AIG generated $92.7 billion worth of aggregate business, which includes premium, deposits and other considerations from life insurance and retirement services businesses. Out of this, $67.5 billion came from operations outside the US. Besides AIA, this also represents businesses from other units of AIG spreading across Europe, Latin America and Japan.

Reliance Money to buy 15% in HKMEx

NEW DELHI: Reliance Money, the retail brokerage arm of Reliance Capital, is buying15% stake in Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx). This would be the first time an Indian firm is buying stake in an overseas exchange. The deal comes at a time when the global financial markets are in a state of flux.

ET had first reported that Reliance Money was close to picking up a substantial minority stake in HKMEx, in its edition dated September 6. As reported earlier, HKMEx was keen to sell up to 26% stake to Reliance Money.

Though the deal amount could not be ascertained, sources say the transaction is being struck at around $15 million, which would value the exchange at $100 million.

Reliance Money had recently received government nod to pick up 10% in Ahmedabad-based National Multi-Commodity Exchange of India (NMCE). Reliance Money has stated that it may acquire up to 26% in NMCE.

Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay confirmed the firm is buying 15% stake in HKMEx. “There is a tremendous opportunity in developing HKMEx as a regional commodity exchange as there is no strong regional commodity bourse in Asia. Moreover, with our exposure in NMCE we would look at building synergies between the two, he said.”

The deal, will make Reliance Money the second-largest shareholder in the commodity exchange and also entitle the firm a board seat in HKMEx.

Apna Loan ties-up with Reliance Money

Mumbai: Apnaloan (www.apnaloan.com), the pioneer and largest market place for loans and credit cards has tied up with Reliance Money, the largest broking and distribution house in India, to provide information about personal finance on their website.

As a part of the tie-up, content on the Easy Loan, EMI Calculators and FAQ sections on the Reliance Money website will be provided and powered exclusively by Apnaloan.com. Apnaloan has enlightened over 1.0 million consumers about Personal Loans, Home Loans, Car Loans, Credit Cards and Education Loans through its well-researched and vast data bank.

“Our tie-up with a leader such as Reliance Money is a step further in our attempt to provide consumers with effective and accurate information about various personal finance products. Our team of experts at Apnaloan provides our consumers with a hassle free loan process” said Mr. Harsh Roongta, CEO of Apnaloan.com.

Speaking on new alliances, Mr. Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Director & CEO, Reliance Money said, “Reliance Money has always been at the forefront of adding value to its customers. Our tie-up with Apnaloan.com is another step in enhancing the bouquet of services available to our consumers on our website.