SG Private starts India operations with wealth advisory services

SG Private Banking, the French private banking major with euro 57.5 billion of client assets under management, has launched its operations in India to tap a part of the $260 billion worth of private wealth with nearly 70,000 individuals in the country.

The private banking arm of Societe Generale Bank plans to build a portfolio of "billions of dollars" of assets under management over three to four years, said Balakrishnan Kunnambath, the Singapore-based global head-Indian subcontinent at SG Private Banking.

Private banking involves providing wealth and investment advisory services to very wealthy individuals and families. Financial services firms stipulate a person or a family to have a certain minimum net worth to qualify for private banking services.

SG Private Banking has set a floor of Rs 2.5 crore (about $0.5 million) of investable surplus for individuals to become eligible for its private banking services, half the $1 million floor it sets globally.

"We will gradually raise the minimum investable surplus requirement to the global level as the wealth in the country increases in tandem with the growth of the economy. Indian is witnessing a 22 per cent growth in private wealth generation," said Kunnambath.

SG has begun with a lower floor of Rs 2.5 crore in order to build a critical mass and will gradually increase the minimum investable surplus, said Pierre Mathe, global head of SG Private Banking.

The French private banking services provider also plans to set up an open-ended real estate fund with initial investments of about Rs 150 crore from its clients, apart from real estate advisory desk as part of its investment advisory services.

SG Private Banking India is making a beginning with a staff of nearly 50, with 20 of them relationship managers, at its offices in Mumbai and New Delhi.