Letters: End of a relationship

Apropos the article “Relationship manager or salesman?” (October 22), I would like to recount my recent experience with a leading private sector bank. Ten days before my short-term fixed deposit of Rs 30 lakh was due to mature, my relationship manager called me for a meeting at the branch. She tried to convince me to put the money in one lot into a hybrid fund (with a huge component of gold investment) of a competitor bank’s mutual fund. The fund’s return was good owing to its gold component, she said. But I refused to risk such a big amount in a single fund.

Then, she tried to sell me the assured returns of a unit-linked insurance policy, or Ulip (HDFC Life Progrowth Plus), with an investment of Rs 5 lakh a year for the next 10 years. I would like to mention here that I am 60 years old. She assured net returns of six per cent per annum on the investment at the end of the period. When I hesitated, she and the branch head tried to make me opt for a loan against my existing fixed deposits, so that I didn’t have to worry about the Rs 5-lakh investment from my current cash flows.

After consulting my neighbour, I refused to accept any of these suggestions. As a result, I am no longer a “key client”, and my relationship manager must be eyeing another victim. I would, thus, like to thank you for bringing out the pros and cons of relationship managers or salesmen in your article.

M V Subramanian Mumbai

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