"Anywhere between 100-150 deals are likely to be in the pipeline in the next 12-18 months in these markets (Asia Pacific, the Middle-East and Latin America) alone," President of TCS' Financial Solutions Business, N G Subramaniam, said.

In addition, the number of deals in Europe and US could be smaller but of higher value, he told reporters here in the presence of TCS CEO and managing director S Ramadorai.

He said these deals covering areas like capital markets, insurance and retail financial services, can specifically be targeted by TCS Financial Solutions' product portfolio under the brand name TCS BaNCS.

Subramaniam said of the 100-150 addressable deals, 20 per cent are expected to be in the range of  $30million-200 million. The remaining 80 per cent deals could be in the bracket of $5 million-10 million.

TCS Financial Solutions, a business unit of TCS, clocked revenue of $170 million in 2006-07, a year-on-year growth of 66 per cent. Ramadorai said the Banking, Financial Services, Insurance segment contributes more than 40 per cent of TCS' total revenues. Subramaniam said TCS Financial Solutions unit has 2,720 professionals and it has plans to add another 500 in this division across the globe by March-end.

Subramaniam said TCS is bullish on its financial solutions business, which gives it better rates and license fee, resulting in higher margins for the company.

"We are working on a pipeline which is very strong both in the capital market segment and in the commercial banking segment". TCS Financial Solutions also announced the appointment of Robert U Mullen as head of global sales and Dennis Roman as chief marketing officer.

Previously, Mullen was President of worldwide field operations at Chordiant Software Inc. Immediately before joining TCS Financial Solutions, Roman led the marketing and communication efforts for i-Flex solutions for five years.