Change is good will build on base: Aashish Kamat

Interview with MD & Group CEO, UBS India

UBS India, domestic arm of the leading Swiss investment bank, has seen a few exits in the recent past, including that of CEO Manisha Girotra. Aashish Kamat, who took over as managing director and Group CEO last month, speaks to Reghu Balakrishnan on strategy and entry into new business areas. Edited excerpts:

UBS has seen some senior executives quit. How do you plan to run the show?

Some left for personal reasons. Probably, they hit the ceiling here. Change is good. Over the years, UBS has built a very good franchise, on the client side and also in the investment banking department. We have got quite a few competent people who can step up to play a bigger role. I will fill quite a lot of that myself, though my focus is more on the entire franchise. Some key roles need to be filled; certainly the head of fixed income, currencies and commodities. We are also on the lookout for senior people for the wealth management business.

Which specific areas would be priority?

The two immediate areas of focus for me will be to ensure we have properly staffed investment banking and the fixed income teams at the right level of seniority and skill sets. We have a very good equity business on the ground here, which is pretty well staffed. India is more of a corporate banking market place. UBS in the past did not do transaction banking like working capital loans, trade finance, buyers’ credit, etc. We’re surely getting into that.

What are your plans for growing the India franchise in terms of product offerings?

Investment banking today in India is equity capital markets, debt capital markets and mergers & acquisitions. In the past, we have done selective corporate banking, but not been very active. Now, we would like to increase that. This includes transaction banking and trade finance. We need to get more active in transaction banking. To do that, we will be leveraging the Swiss corridor, as we have a lot of Swiss companies in India today and there are always more looking to come.

What are your plans in wealth management?

I see a natural nexus between wealth management and investment banking because a lot of Indian companies are promoter-owned and generational. Very often, the family and children now want to monetise it or think about how to preserve their wealth. This very much ties into our strategy. However, our approach will be slow and deliberate, to make sure we lay a foundation to grow a proper franchise.

How much are you expecting the new areas of business to add to the revenues?

In a perfect world, I’d say that my fixed income business should be 30 per cent or 35 per cent, my equity business should be 25 per cent, investment banking business will always be 10 to 15 per cent, and transaction banking and wealth management the rest. This market is an excellent crossover between wealth management and investment banking

How do you plan to expand in the advisory space?

It’s about being there for the client. From the advisory, the clients are looking for ideas and content. They seek sector specialization whether it is oil and gas or financial institutions. It’s about being able to go to them with ideas that make a lot of good sense and then being able to execute for them. In a way, you have to be a strategic partner to them. You have to match their thinking in terms of growing their business.