Al Ansari says BFC buyout will lift revenues by a fifth 

Dubai-listed Al Ansari Financial Services expects a 13 percent rise in profits and a 20 percent increase in revenues following its acquisition of BFC Group Holdings, a competing money exchange business, the company CEO has said.

“After completing the BFC deal, we have become the largest exchange company in the UAE and Bahrain and the third largest in Kuwait,” CNBC Arabia reported, quoting CEO Rashed Al Ansari.

Last week the remittance and foreign exchange company acquired BFC for $200 million, expanding its footprint in Bahrain, Kuwait and India. 

The move increased the group’s customer base by 29 percent and the branch network by 60 percent. 

Al Ansari said that remittances following the acquisition will be “smoother, faster and at lower costs”.

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The CEO said the company is exploring more acquisition opportunities in the GCC, with plans to open 15 new branches in the UAE this year after obtaining regulatory approvals.

Currently, 25 to 30 percent of Al Ansari’s customers in the UAE use digital channels for remittance, the report said.

Shares closed marginally higher at AED0.98 on the DFM. The stock is down nearly 9 percent in one year.