Reliance Money, or R-Money, provider of brokerage and financial services distribution entity in India and part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, announced that the company has entered into an exclusive tie-up with Nasdaq-listed OptionsXpress Holdings Inc., the third largest online broker in the US, to provide access, custody and execution in US markets for its customers.
Through this agreement, investors will be able to trade in all US delivery based equities/ IPOs/ Mutual Funds/ Bonds/ Options. They will be provided access to AMEX, NYSE, Philadelphia Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, the company said.
Reliance Money Chief Executive Officer, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, said in a statement that R-Money could grab this opportunity as an opening for further expanding its presence in the US and Canadian markets, adding that the tie-up with OptionsXpress would now open a safe, secure and cost effective transaction platform for its customers to trade in the US markets.
Bandyopadhyay further added that Indian investors are looking at diversifying their portfolio through overseas trading service. Added to this, the US equity markets are mostly liquid and allow investors to spread country and sectoral risk more effectively. Customers have the opportunity to invest in sectors like biotechnology, semiconductors and Internet companies that are underrepresented in the US.
David Fisher, Chief Executive Officer, OptionsXpress Holdings, Inc., said, "The arrangement represents a compelling and mutually beneficial business alliance between two pioneering brokerage firms. The two firms have similar business cultures in regards to persistent innovation and complement each other in markets where the other does not have presence. We look forward to bringing our award winning platform, execution and service to India,"
OptionsXpress has been named the top online securities brokerage by Kiplinger's Personal Finance (2006) and by Barron's in its last four annual surveys (2003 to 2006) and has a huge customer base of over 3 lack customers.
R-Money already has similar tie-ups in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong and plans to expand it operations in other countries as well, the report said.
Meanwhile a media report stated that R-Money, which forayed into wealth management business two months ago, is aiming at Asset Under Management or AUM size of around Rs.50,000 crores by the end of December 2009 on the back of new products. Presently, the wealth management entity has managing assets of around Rs.1,000 crores, covering 21 cities, which will be extended to 50 cities by December 2008. The wealth management platform with a host of unique features is available to high networth individuals having investible surplus of over Rs.25 lakhs.
The company has introduced two innovative products, Sudip reportedly said, adding that there will be some more which will generate a good business.
R-Money plans to increase the number of advisors for wealth management business to 365 from the present 165. Services like tax planning and assessment, real estate, art advisory investment in art fund and estate planning are part of the advisory. The company also has a separate module, which caters to the financial planning needs of senior citizens, the release stated.
Presently, high networth population of the country is around 1.3 million that is set to grow to 2 million in the next three years, Sudip added. According to industry studies, the population of high networth individual in the country is expected to grow to over two million wealthy individuals in India, holding over $510 billion in liquid assets by 2011, the report said.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com