Emirates Post acquires majority shareholding in Wall Street Exchange Centre LLC

An agreement on the Dhs. 48 million deal was signed by Mr. Abdullah Ibrahim Al Daboos, Director General, Emirates Post, and Mr. Asgar Shakoor Patel, Managing Director, Wall Street Exchange Centre LLC, at Emirates Post headquarters in Dubai.

The move marks Emirates Post's foray into financial services, following an amendment to Federal Law No. 8, okayed by the UAE government in a decree dated 10th August 2005, permitting the corporation to diversify into money exchange and related financial activities.

Wall Street Exchange Centre, UAE, is a dynamic player in the Exchange and Remittance Business. It is part of the Indian multinational House of Patel Group that has a global presence through its offices in UK, US, UAE, Canada, Hong Kong, Pakistan and India. Wall Street also shares a correspondent relationship with 70 countries worldwide and has over 1,000 agent locations in India alone, promoting its services.

Addressing the media, Mr. Al Daboos said: "This agreement represents a major step for Emirates Post and crowns several months of behind the scenes activity, preceding the deal. Diversifying into the field of financial services significantly enhances our service portfolio and opens new avenues for growth and increased customer base."

"Having studied the money exchange and money transfer business in the UAE, we found that Wall Street Exchange Centre had excellent track record and strong reputation among customers as well as financial institutions. As a majority shareholder, Emirates Post is looking forward to building on these strengths to take the company to new heights," added Mr. Al Daboos.

Mr. Al Daboos revealed that the Wall Street Exchange's financial services would be gradually extended to Emirates Post's network of 78 post-offices from 2006. He also said that the existing network of the Wall Street's overseas branches would be expanded, to cover Arab countries as well as new international markets.

Mr. Asgar Patel said, "The synergies bring Wall Street Exchange Centre and Emirates Post into an amalgamation which would render great convenience to the remitting customers in the UAE, GCC and worldwide."

Wall Street Exchange Centre recorded impressive growth during 2004, with profits rising to AED 8.72 million, an increase of over 71 percent over the previous year. During 2004, it achieved the breakthrough of opening various currency accounts with the Central Bank of UAE, a privilege extended only to a handful of non-banking financial institutions.

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.

Wall Street Exchange Centre has 8 branches in the UAE: Naif Road; Bur Dubai; Karama; Jebel Ali; Al Arooba Street, Shwaiheen, Sharjah; Hamdan Street, Abu Dhabi; Al Ain and Fujairah.