Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management on the future of the NRI market

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management (PWM) is vying for a bigger slice of the non-resident Indian (NRI) pie in the region – which according to a Datamonitor report stands at an estimated 20 million NRIs worldwide with 6.2 million located in 20 key countries. In a recent interview with The Business Times (BT) Singapore, Salman Mahdi, Head of Global South Asia for PWM said the business aims to double assets under advisory for NRI clients over the next two to three years.

“Over the past five years we've been able to grow 40-45 per cent a year. Currently, there are at least 10 to 12 banks in this space, and we're probably one of the later entrants. We can have a business that is double today's size and we want to shoot for the same rates of growth,” he told BT.

Leveraging on the 'One Bank' principle – which translates a strong competitive advantage for Deutsche Bank PWM through its connectivity with the Investment Bank - the Global South Asia  business team is armed with the expertise and platform to provide clients access to capital markets specialist bankers for their business, originate mergers and acquisitions, for instance, or initial public offers. Based in Deutsche Bank global offices, the team has expanded significantly over the last five years - through placements of professionals with 10-15 years of broad banking experience who understand the businesses of South Asian clients. Mahdi expects staff strength to double over the next two to three years.

According to the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Ministry of Finance, it estimates that NRIs alone own more than US$1 trillion of assets. Factoring out gold, real estate and art, NRI wealth is estimated at US$500 billion, reported BT quoting a Datamonitor report.

To this end, Mahdi says a significant trend is that of NRIs re-investing wealth back in India. “That has become very important for us. Clients are asking us to show them more opportunities in India.  This year, Deutsche Bank has raised capital for half a dozen India companies.”

On booking centres in the region, while a number of them, including Hong Kong and Switzerland, are vying for a bigger slice of the NRI pie, Datamonitor reckons Singapore is a 'particularly attractive' market.

“Singapore is one of the key markets for us in the region. We've moved senior resources here to advise families on wealth planning, such as the fiduciary structures they should have, and estate planning,” Mahdi concluded.

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