Barclays to launch wealth business in H1

Barclays Bank will launch its wealth management business in India in the first half of calendar year 2008 to tap the growing numbers of affluent people.

The bank aims to become one of the top three wealth managers in the next three to four years, Satya Narayan Bansal, chief executive, India, Barclays Wealth, said.

Barclays Wealth follows other biggies, including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Societe Generale, to tap the segment.

"There is huge untapped business in India," said Bansal, adding that the country is the fastest growing wealth management market. "We expect the market to grow 20 per cent per annum for the next few years."

Barclays Wealth will cater to high networth individuals ($1-30 million) and ultra HNIs ($30 million and above).

According to a Merrill Lynch-Capgemini report, India had 100,000 millionaires in 2006, up 21 per cent from a year earlier. Though there are no authentic figures available, different reports put the size of the Indian wealth management business at $50-$250 billion.

According to reports, attracted by the big potential, other global players, such as UBS, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, among others, are also looking to enter the segment in India.

"Even if we take the $50 billion figure, we feel that there is enough scope for more players. We also feel the time is right to enter the business here," Bansal said. "We are in the phase of putting together a team, systems and processes."

Barclays Wealth is also looking at designing India-linked products for its global clients to ride the boom in Indian equity markets. The bellwether Sensex has risen more than 40 per cent per annum in the last three years.

"We will have an onshore team to study the market and bring global expertise for Indian clients," he said. "Our objective will be to identify the most-suited products for our clients here," Bansal said.

Catering to clients all across the globe, Barclays Bank manages assets of over $250 billion.

Barclays Wealth will look to offer structured products, direct equity, private equity, India-linked real estate products etc for clients through the wealth management business.

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WEALTH TAP

The bank aims to become one of the top three wealth managers in the next three to four years

Barclays Wealth follows in the footsteps of other biggies such as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Societe Generale to tap the segment

Barclays Wealth will cater to high networth individuals ($1-30 million) and ultra HNIs ($30 million and above)