The group, which was launched in Dubai last month, already has around 2,500 clients and has plans to add another 1,000 high net worth clients in a year, ICICI Bank Executive Director V Vaidyanathan said at a press conference. He said the plan is to add 100 relationship managers to the existing base of 250 and also spread globally to places such as London.
The group uses the services of other global players such as UBS, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, as also ICICI Bank and its subsidiaries, to design alternate or structured products for clients with net worth of over $1 million. At present, excluding the wealth management business undertaken by the private bank, the assets under management are estimated at $26 billion.
While a wealth management subsidiary is planned for Canada to comply with regulatory requirements, Vaidyanathan said, a similar route could be adopted in other countries too, if the need arose. ICICI Bank has strong operations in Canada and the United Kingdom.
The ICICI Group Global Private Clients is aimed at tapping the rising number of dollar millionaires whose number is estimated at 100,000 at present. With the economy growing at 8 per cent, the number is going to rise in the coming years, Vaidyanathan said.
