ICICI Bank is clearly among the leaders in India’s wealth management industry. Its assets under management grew 21% to $52 billion in 2022, while the number of new wealth clients rose 31%. It added 27 second- and third-tier cities to its footprint in 2022, and is now present in 57 cities across the country.
The growth is thanks to the concerted effort by the team at ICICI – led by Rajesh Iyer, head of private banking and wealth management – to provide a 360-degrees experience to its wealth clients. This means leveraging ICICI’s universal banking model to provide top quality, comprehensive services to high and ultra-high net-worth individuals and families. These could be solutions on banking, investments, governance and succession planning, or broking, investment banking and asset management.
ICICI’s family office offering, in particular, took big steps in the past year, making it Asiamoney’s pick for best for family office services in 2023.
By the end of 2022, the family office business managed assets worth a hefty $14 billion, up 32% year on year, excluding custody assets. The number of clients soared 42%. ICICI’s market share among the top 1,000 rich in India rose to 35% last year from 25% in 2021.
The solid numbers reflect ICICI’s personalized approach whereby every private banking client is served by four relationship or customer experience managers. The team has about 400 relationship managers, and ICICI plans to increase the number to 600 in the next year or two.
Family offices turn to ICICI because it can provide access to traditional and alternative investment opportunities. In 2021 and 2022, family office clients switched to unlisted and pre-IPO investments across sectors, putting their money into reputed unicorns and startups.
Thanks to that, ICICI helped more than 25 businesses raise equity financing largely from family office clients, including a chunky $20 million ticket from a single family office.
As a result, the family office business, which has only been going for about four years, now accounts for 30% of private banking revenues.
Iyer says the distinction comes from the fact that the ICICI team views family offices as entrepreneurs that not only need investment advice but also a sounding board for their business operations. ICICI offers business counselling to family offices, for example, to help them tackle the diverse interests of different family members. It also organizes events for family office clients, including distinct forums for wives and the next generation.
All of these features make ICICI a one-stop shop for India’s wealthy looking for family office services. The bank has a well-deserved reputation in the industry because of its commitment to providing benchmark-setting services and its focus on building long-term relationships with clients.