Kotak Bank launches Solitaire to target India's growing affluent class

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By Advait Palepu and Apoorva Ajith

 

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. is extending wealth management and bespoke services to its affluent customers as competition for servicing India’s rapidly-growing tribe of rich individuals heats up.

 

The Mumbai-based private lender backed by billionaire Uday Kotak Wednesday launched “Kotak Solitaire,” an offering targeted at salaried customers with Rs 0.75 crore ($86,786) in relationship value and self-employed clients with Rs 1 crore. 

 

“The affluent segment is growing twice as fast the rest of the wealth market,” said Rohit Bhasin, chief marketing officer at Kotak Mahindra Bank.

 

Through Solitaire, Kotak is looking to grow its 4 per cent market share among affluent Indians by offering them banking and investment products and services usually reserved for the wealthy and super-rich, he said. 

 

The move comes as independent wealth managers like 360 One WAM Ltd., Nuvama Wealth Management Ltd. and Blackstone Inc.-backed ASK Group are spreading out across the country to woo high networth individuals beyond India’s metropolitan centers. 

 

“This is a stickier customer, you can earn more from affluent customers and their needs pan out across products,” Bhasin said. More than a third of the bank’s business comes from its affluent customers, he added.

 

Kotak is India’s fourth-largest private bank after HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd. Its private banking division is among the largest wealth managers in the country, catering to individuals with over $1 million in investable assets and servicing 60 per cent of India’s top 100 families. 

 

Solitaire’s offerings include dedicated relationship managers, access to alternative assets, portfolio management services and lifestyle products, the bank said in a release. For businesses, there will be enhanced working capital loans, payments, cash management and forex services. 

 

Kotak managed assets worth Rs 8.45 trillion across its private banking, priority banking and investment advisory divisions as of March 31. The bank’s shares closed 0.5 per cent higher at Rs 2,170.40 in Mumbai on Wednesday. 

 

(Disclosure: Entities controlled by the Kotak family have a significant shareholding in Business Standard)