bank of baroda: Bank of Baroda looks to ramp up wealth management business

State-run Bank of Baroda is hiring more than 850 relationship managers and executives to strengthen its wealth management business as it seeks to tap into the growing segment across the country.

The bank aims to nearly triple its assets under management (AUM) to over ₹85,000 crore, from ₹30,000 crore at present, in the next five years by cross-selling to about 2,50,000 wealthy customers who already have accounts with it.

Also, in the pipeline is a new wealth management vertical in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the bank will service the large wealthy diaspora in that country, said Virendra Somwanshi, head, wealth management, Bank of Baroda.

“In the last couple of years, we have got in place products, human resources and technology across the top 30 cities in India. We expect to break into the top-10 revenue earning banks through mutual fund sales this fiscal and top four in life insurance sales,” said Somwanshi.

The bank made ₹315 crore from the wealth management business in 2021-22 and expects to cross the ₹1,000-crore-mark in 2023-24.

Bank of Baroda is a small player in the segment, where large private sector banks such as Axis Bank and HDFC Bank have AUM of nearly ₹90,000 crore each and state-run State Bank of India manages assets of an estimated ₹1.3 lakh crore.

However, Bank of Baroda has enough untapped wealthy clients who have deep relationships with the bank which can be developed further, said Somwanshi.

The bank has identified 2,50,000 accounts with a ₹30 lakh relationship value in single accounts or ₹50 lakh in multiple family-linked accounts. A majority of these accounts are in top 30 cities but the bank also wants to tap individuals outside these centres. It plans to bring these accounts to its wealth business, Baroda Radiance.

Somwanshi said the bank plans to hire 350 experienced relationship managers and another 500 executives who will be trained to acquire new customers and take over as relationship managers in the future. These hires will add to the team of more than 400 executives the bank has at present.

“If India hits the $5 trillion mark in GDP, there is going to be an increase in the affluent and wealthy population. For a public sector bank like ours this is a sitting duck business with a great potential without any need for extra capital or risk of NPAs (non-performing assets),” said Somwanshi.

Bank of Baroda also will manage wealthy clients outside the top 30 cities through a relationship hub in Mumbai which will guide executives in the bank’s branches in the small towns.