Avendus Wealth Management, led by chief executive Nitin Singh, has many standout characteristics, but a key reason for its long-running success and growth in India lies in its timing and focus. It appears to be able to constantly bolster its private banking proposition by leveraging technology, even before its clients demand it.
It has certainly gained a lot of ground over the years. In 2022, revenues jumped 21% to Rp1.7 billion ($20.8 million) and assets under management grew to $5.3 billion. Its client base rose 20% with the addition of 400 new families, while the Avendus team headcount rose 26% to 150 staff.
Avendus’s strength comes from its ability to provide a seamless and personalized experience for its high and ultra-high net-worth clients with a solid digital platform.
In 2022, Avendus focused on three things: putting together a cutting-edge client and business analytics dashboard to improve user experience; upgrading its back-end systems for a smoother interface; and sprucing up its mobile and web platforms to give both clients and relationship managers a better user experience.
The Avendus Wealth app provides clients with everything they could possibly need, including access to portfolios and investments across private and public market assets, portfolio summary and investment details through a dynamic dashboard, details of new product launches, a great user experience and access to exclusively curated thought leadership reports and market trends.
The idea, according to Singh and Arvind Bansal, who is head of products and advisory, is to give private banking clients a 360-degree data system with access to their portfolios and to advisers, while boosting productivity and decision-making internally.
In addition to using technology to give its business an impetus, Avendus is enhancing its product range. It has set up new lending, family office and equity advisory desks, all of which are seeing a good response from customers. Avendus established a liquidity desk to track new money events, allowing it to be the first port of call when such deals emerge.
It has increased its focus on UHNW individuals and shifted to a non-discretionary portfolio management solutions model in a bid to refine its offerings. Roughly 40% of Avendus’s assets under management now come from the non-discretionary business.
Avendus has strengthened its fixed income and alternative investment businesses in the past year, but still remains among the leaders in wealth lending, family office services and investment solutions.
The firm has a clear goal: to graduate from a top-five to a top-three wealth manager in India. If Avendus stays on this growth trajectory, it could achieve that sooner than expected.