Standard Chartered Bank looks to raise its wealth management game in India

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai: UK-based Standard Chartered Bank is looking to up its wealth management play in India, hiring more relationship managers and giving a facelift to several branches in a market that has recently attracted strong interest from both global and domestic money managers. “India is a huge opportunity for the wealth business and in the next decade, the amount of wealth that will get created in India will possibly be the highest in any of our footprints," Samir Subberwal, global head of wealth solutions, deposits and mortgages, and chief client officer, Standard Chartered Bank, said in an interview on Tuesday.

“In India, we are pivoting more towards affluent clients and wealth management." According to Subberwal, who transitioned to the current the role in April, the bank will improve the look and feel of its branches in order to handle more affluent clients. The bank, he said, will also hire more relationship managers and wealth advisers and will “materially scale up" the business in India. “Everybody is talking about wealth, so are we," said Subberwal.

India is now being seen by many as an upcoming wealth management destination as a result of growing affluence among a cohort of consumers. Goldman Sachs pointed out in a report in January that the top 4% of the working-age population in India has a per capita income greater than $10,000 per annum, compared to India’s average per capita income of $2,100. The report classified this category as “affluent India", comprising 44 million working-age population in 2023.