ABN Amro aims to ramp up private banking business

Dutch banking major, ABN Amro Bank, aims to more than double the investments made in India from its private banking assets under management (AUM) over the next couple of years.

Of ABN Amro group's private banking assets of $160 billion, just around $1 billion is invested in India. The figure is likely to increase to $2-3 billion in the next few years, said Jos ter Avest, global head-private banking.

ABN Amro private banking also plans to increase it staff strength in India. Avest said the number of private banking employees in Asia has increased to 400 from 250 over a year ago. The number of employees working for private banking business in India has increased to 50 from 30 during the year.

Foreign investors continue to view the Indian equity market scenario as volatile and risky and 5-10 per cent of a global client's portfolio currently finds its way into the Indian equity market.

The bank's senior vice-president and head-private banking of Indian operations, Sutapa Banerjee, said ABN Amro plans to deploy a hub-and-spoke strategy to tap the rural rich.

For instance, the bank's Mumbai centre presently manages private banking for smaller cities like Pune, Surat and Baroda. "Once enough potential is identified in a particular town/city, we would roll out specialised centres in such locations," she said.

Banerjee said less than 10 per cent of the total number of ultra high networth individuals (HNIs) in India have been tapped by banks.

She explained that the bank has four centres at the moment for managing its private banking business. It plans to have at least 10-12 such centres over the next few years, mainly focussing on the northern, western and southern states.