DOHA: Doha Bank yesterday signed an agreement with Medgulf Insurance and Reinsurance company of Lebanon which facilitates the subscription of personal financial management products for the non resident Lebanese living in Qatar.
Under the agreement, Doha Bank shall provide necessary information about the various investment cum protection products being offered by Medgulf to the Lebanese residing in Qatar and facilitate movement of documents and funds if they wish to purchase such financial products.
There shall be three products initially on offer namely child education plan, retirement or pension plan and secure plan. Child education plan is a savings cum investment product under which parents shall be able to able to invest small sums of money on a monthly or yearly basis for their children's future and get the same back with assured returns after the pre-determined period.
Normally, the plan matures when the child attains the age of 18 and the entire return thus can be used for his/her studies in the best universities in the world. However, the parents have the flexibility to decide the length of the plan and the amount which they want at maturity and accordingly monthly or yearly installment can be fixed.
R Seetharaman, Deputy Chief Executive of Doha Bank, said that with the spiraling cost of quality education at higher levels it is the commitment of Doha Bank to provide financial products and services to our customers which will help them in their personal financial planning to secure the future of themselves and their families.
"We partnered with Medgulf because it is one of the largest and probably the most reputed insurance and reinsurance company in Lebanon and it makes sense for an expatriate to buy a financial product from a company, they already know and trust. This is also in line with Doha Bank's commitment to offer the best financial products and services available in the market to its customers", Seetharaman further said.
Manoj Kumar, Head of Bancassurance, said that the retirement or pension plan is for the people who wish to plan their own future and retire from active work after certain number of years. Here, they can invest on yearly or monthly basis or can put in a lump sum amount to take care of their future. Upon maturity, the money can be fully encashed or can be converted into annuities. Similarly, Secure Plan is for the people who are looking for higher but secured returns on a short to medium term basis.
"All the schemes have an additional layer of protection as the nominee gets the pre-determined sum of money in addition to the invested amounts in the unfortunate event of the death or disability of the investor", Kumar said.
Shadi Refai, Executive Vice-President of Medgulf, said that Lebanese can subscribe to any of the three schemes directly from Qatar through Doha Bank and can still get serviced in Lebanon if they return home before the maturity of the policy. Similarly, they can receive their maturity amount here itself if they continue to live in Qatar.
Customers just have to call our Bancassurance division on 4357313 or 4352161 and set up an appointment with one of our financial advisors. Our financial advisors shall visit them at their office or residence as per the customer's convenience and shall help them in analysing their financial requirements and deciding on the maturity amount and installments. Ziad Jureidini, General Manager of Medgulf, Kuwait, was also present.
© The Peninsula 2006
