SG Private Banking, the French private banking major with euro 57.5 billion of client assets under management, has launched its operations in India to tap a part of the $260 billion worth of private wealth with nearly 70,000 individuals in the country. | |
| The private banking arm of Societe Generale Bank plans to build a portfolio of "billions of dollars" of assets under management over three to four years, said Balakrishnan Kunnambath, the Singapore-based global head-Indian subcontinent at SG Private Banking. |
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| Private banking involves providing wealth and investment advisory services to very wealthy individuals and families. Financial services firms stipulate a person or a family to have a certain minimum net worth to qualify for private banking services. |
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| SG Private Banking has set a floor of Rs 2.5 crore (about $0.5 million) of investable surplus for individuals to become eligible for its private banking services, half the $1 million floor it sets globally. |
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| "We will gradually raise the minimum investable surplus requirement to the global level as the wealth in the country increases in tandem with the growth of the economy. Indian is witnessing a 22 per cent growth in private wealth generation," said Kunnambath. |
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| SG has begun with a lower floor of Rs 2.5 crore in order to build a critical mass and will gradually increase the minimum investable surplus, said Pierre Mathe, global head of SG Private Banking. |
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| The French private banking services provider also plans to set up an open-ended real estate fund with initial investments of about Rs 150 crore from its clients, apart from real estate advisory desk as part of its investment advisory services. |
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| SG Private Banking India is making a beginning with a staff of nearly 50, with 20 of them relationship managers, at its offices in Mumbai and New Delhi. |
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