The Hindu Business Line : ABN-Amro finds pvt banking good business

For, in this business, the margins vary between 1 per cent and 1.5 per cent of the assets, which translates into an income of not less than Rs 12 crore.

At present, the private banking division of the bank has 400 client groups, which, the bank expects to go up to 1,500-1,700 in about five years time, with `assets under advice' of around Rs 4,000 crore.

It may sound like a small number even for a niche business, but according to Ms Sutupa Banerjee, Senior Vice-President and Head - Private Banking, India, ABN- Amro, the business has grown "more than aggressively" in the last couple of years.

ABN-Amro started private banking in September 2002 and the service is offered in four cities.

Under this service, high networth individuals get advisory services from experts - customer relationship managers - in the bank. They advise "across asset classes," which ranges from equity investment through real estate to investments in art.

At present, ABN-Amro has 16 customer relationship managers, who are the points of contact for the clients.

Ms Banerjee said that at present only Banque National Paribas, Deutsche Bank and HSBC offer `private banking' service, which is a more personalised service than `personal banking service' that most banks, including some in the public sector, offer.

Also, DSP Merrill Lynch and Kotak Securities are among non-banks in this business, she said.

With back office support from `account aggregation' and `portfolio modelling' softwares, which are essentially tools to keep track of clients assets, ABN-Amro expects to grow mainly by leads generated by satisfied by clients. For, this is a highly specialised area, where a lot of confidentiality is involved.

"This is not a business you shout from the rooftops," Ms Banerjee said.