Fintech, Ethical Wealth Advisors and Goals-based Strategies will Reshape Wealth Industry, Say Industry Experts

CFA Society India, in collaboration with CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals, hosted its second annual India Wealth Management Conference, in Mumbai. The conference, attended by close to 350 investment management professionals, offers delegates a chance to interact with peer practitioners and industry leaders on issues that are influencing the wealth sector.

CFA Society India Wealth Management conference

“India's ultra-high-net-worth individuals’ wealth base is expected to grow at the fastest pace among that of major global economies. Yet, most of India’s high-net-worth-individuals lack access to basic wealth management services. Our aim with this conference is to help wealth managers develop deeper insights on competencies and top-in-class practitioner frameworks and equip them with right ideas, appropriate tools, and the best practices to serve India’s wealth management needs,” explains Jayesh Gandhi, CFA, president of CFA Society India (volunteer) and Senior Portfolio Manager at Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company Limited.  

What industry says:

•  “The rise of “Direct” schemes, the growth of online and low cost stock broking and death of alpha in large cap fund management are the changes which will reshape wealth management. Moving forward, i) Boutique fund houses with strong stock picking abilities and differentiated investment styles, ii) Transparent, low cost, high quality investment and asset allocation strategies (Coffee Can portfolio), iii) Giant, online discount brokerages which will dominate stockbroking, and iv) A greatly reduced number of intermediaries and a greater number of genuine wealth advisors, hold the future for Indian wealth management.”

– Saurabh Mukherjea, CFA, Chief Executive Officer, Ambit Capital

• “It is easy to collect money when the market is costly but difficult to collect money when the market is cheap.”

– Sankaran Naren, Chief Investment Officer, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. Ltd.

• “Financialisation of savings and digitisation of financeis a big trend; it is a long journey but we are moving in the right direction.”

– Navneet Munot, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, SBI Funds Management Pvt. Ltd.

• “You cannot be successful in your business if you’re not willing to take risks. This is a very important foundation despite being very painful.”

– Randall S. Kroszner, Former Governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (2006-2009)

• “We cannot serve individuals with institutional solutions. A new process is needed to take care of the special features of each client, detailing advice where needed and providing systematic solutions where applicable. Markets do not always do as expected and goals may change hence one needs to keep verifying that they are on the right track.”

– Jean L.P Brunel, CFA, Managing Partner, Brunel Associates LLC

• “Global family businessesarethe backbone for any economy, hence the concept of business succession is gaining ground as there is a need to protect and preserve wealth from future uncertainties.”

– Stephen Horan, CFA, CIPM, Managing Director, Credentialing, CFA Institute

The 2^nd India Wealth Management Conference featured two power-packed panels and industry speakers who demystified wealth management in practice. The conference began with an extremely valuable, data driven session on ‘The Three Changes which will Reshape Wealth Management’ by Saurabh Mukherjea, CFA, CEO, Ambit Capital. It featured an insightful session by Sankaran Naren, CIO, ICICI Prudential AMC Ltd. on ‘Asset Relocation / Multi Asset Strategies for Wealth Management’. This was followed by a session on ‘Goals-based Wealth Management’ by Jean L.P. Brunel, CFA, the former chief investment officer of JP Morgan’s global private bank.

The first half also covered two key topics, ‘Impact of the Family Business for the High-Net-Worth Portfolio’ and ‘Family Business – Challenges and its Legal Solutions’, by Stephen Horan CFA, CIPM, Managing Director, Credentialing, CFA Institute and Rajesh Gupta, Managing Partner, SNG & Partners, respectively. The first half of the day was concluded with an impactful discussion on ‘What Makes A Successful Wealth Manager and A Successful Wealth Management Firm’ by Jaideep Hansraj, CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.

The second half of the conference started with an important session on market readiness for risk by Randall S. Kroszner, former governor of the US Federal Reserve System, which was followed by panel discussions on ‘The Opportunities and Challenges in Robo Advisory in India’ and ‘Evolving Business Models in Wealth Management’.

About CFA Society India

CFA Society India, (previously known as the Indian Association of Investment Professionals / IAIP), was established in April 2005 as an association of local investment professionals consisting of portfolio managers, security analysts, investment advisors and other financial professionals. As one of the 147 CFA Institute member societies, CFA Society India connects local members to a global network of investment professionals.

For more information, visit www.cfasociety.org/india.

About CFA Institute

CFA Institute is the global association of investment professionals that sets the standard for professional excellence and credentials. The organisation is a champion for ethical behaviour in investment markets and a respected source of knowledge in the global financial community. The end goal: to create an environment where investors’ interests come first, markets function at their best and economies grow. The CFA Institute Future of Finance initiative is a thought leadership program to critically examine the industry and advance a more investor focused and sustainable profession. CFA Institute has over 146,000 members in 160 countries and territories, including 140,000 CFA charter holders and 147 member societies.

For more information, visit www.cfainstitute.org.