Axis Bank has opened a new representative office in Sharjah, its fourth such office in the UAE. The bank intends to gain a better share of the $12 billion annual remittance market between the UAE and India. Rajiv Anand, head, Retail Banking at the bank, said around $12 billion a year is moving from UAE to India and the bank has a 20% share of the remittance market. The bank now wants to improve this share, he added. The Sharjah office will focus on servicing the Northern Emirates. There are an estimated 650,000 Indians who live in Sharjah, many of whom commute to Dubai daily, Anand said. The bank has two offices in Dubai – including one in the Dubai International Financial Centre, from which it focuses on corporate banking and financing trade between India and the UAE – and one in Abu Dhabi. The bank has about 130,000 UAE-based customers now. The bank, which opened its first office in the UAE in 2007, has tie ups with 31 banks and exchanges in the UAE, and acts as a correspondent bank in India for them for transfers made from the emirates.
