Wealth management: Bright future for wealth managers

Unprecedented prosperity in middle class India has stoked demand for wealth management services. This high adrenaline career is attracting a growing number of B-school graduates in particular

With the economy booming, stock and real estate prices rising, and salaries hitting the roof, the wealth and disposable incomes of several million Indians have grown substantially during the past two decades. The unprecedented prosperity of middle class India has stoked demand for wealth management services, which were hitherto the preserve of elite foreign banks. As a consequence, wealth management has emerged as a high adrenaline and well rewarding career option for the growing number of India’s university graduates, particularly of its 950-plus business schools.

According to the World Wealth Report 2005, published by Cap Gemini & Merrill Lynch, the number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in India grew by 14.6 percent, twice the global average of 7.3 percent, in 2004. Future growth in this segment is forecast at almost 20 percent annually during the next quinquennium.

Contemporary wealth managers provide ‘cradle to grave’ financial services. The services provided normally comprise investment under assets such as equity, mutual funds, debt, insurance, and specialised services such as estate management besides tax advisory, succession planning etc. To land a job as a wealth manager in a bank or financial services firm, you need to be an MBA (finance) from a reputed management institute or a postgraduate in economics. To accelerate your promotion you could enroll for a chartered financial analyst (CFA) programme. This programme is offered by the Hyderabad-based Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India by way of distance education or classroom courses. It covers corporate finance, financial services, and investment management. Similar programmes are also offered by:

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai
SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai
International Management Institute, New Delhi
BITS, Pilani
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar

UNLIMITED SCOPE. With the demand for qualified wealth management professionals far outstripping supply, there is unlimited scope for professional advancement in this field. Private banks including HDFC, ICICI, foreign banks like ABN Amro, CitiGold Wealth Management, Citibank, Deutsch Bank, B.N. Paribas, HSBC, Barclays and Société Général, which have established private banking operations in India, and investment firms such as DSP Merrill Lynch, Kotak Securities, Anand Rathi Investments, and J.M. Morgan Stanley, are the preferred employers of aspirant wealth managers. Other big employers are stand-alone wealth management firms, which offer a full range of services such as investment advice, portfolio management, taxation advice, et al; mutual fund companies; and asset management and insurance corporates.

For professionally qualified wealth managers, the pay is good ab initio. Starting pay is around Rs.4–5 lakh per year, which could rise to more than Rs.1 crore within a decade as senior wealth managers manage portfolios of Rs.400–500 crore each.

“Until a few years ago investors didn’t think beyond investing in government securities, fixed deposits, and new equity issues. Today, the market is complicated and more people are opting for wealth management advice. Corporate professionals are emerging as our major customers since a growing number of IT companies, banks etc give stock options to employees running into millions of rupees. Hitherto wealth management was restricted to people with Rs.2–3 crore to invest. Now even people with Rs.20–30 lakh hire wealth managers paying fees of Rs.40,000–2,00,000 per year. Wealth management is evolving in India, which is a healthy sign,” says Aashish Somaiyaa, the Mumbai-based zonal sales head (western region) at Bharti AXA Investment Managers Pvt Ltd.

A chemical engineering graduate of the Maharashtra Institute of Technology (affiliated with Pune University) and an MBA (finance) from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, Somaiyaa signed up as a management trainee with Prudential ICICI Asset Management. According to Somaiyaa, who now manages the Mumbai operations of Bharti AXA, the canvas is getting broader for wealth managers: “Now, we are free to also invest in commodities, real estate, gold, silver etc. Soon Indians will be allowed to invest abroad in a host of countries. So managing wealth will become more complicated and the demand for wealth managers will zoom.”

Aware of the huge possibilities in this newly discovered field, Somaiyaa is gearing to promote his own one-stop shop offering wealth management services. With India poised, he believes there’s room for many more asset management companies.

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