State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank, announced its foray into the wealth management space and also launched a dedicated branch for start-ups in India’s technology capital Bengaluru on Thursday.
‘SBI Exclusif’, the wealth management offering, is targeted at high net worth individuals (HNIs) and aspiring HNIs, said SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya.
The bank has adopted a multi-channel approach to offer wealth management service. SBI Exclusif customers will have access to dedicated relationship manager to take care of all their banking and investment needs. Clients can also opt to be in touch with their advisors and relationship managers remotely through video calls.
The wealth management service will be rolled out in other cities during the course of the year.
SBI InCube, the dedicated branch for start-ups, will offer budding entrepreneurs advisory services — from setting up of a company to issues related to taxation and regulations, Bhattacharya said.
Initially, SBI InCube will offer only financial management and advisory services and not extend any commercial loans to start-ups. However, the bank would love to give them loans when they turn more mature, Bhattacharya said.
“Actually funding could be done when they become a little more mature,” Bhattacharya added.
SBI expects to set up such dedicated InCube branches in other cities, such as Pune and the National Capital Region, where start-up activities are taking place, said Rajnish Kumar, Managing Director (National Banking Group).
Kumar said that SBI will initially have a team of around 20 experts for its wealth management service and that would be scaled up as and when the bank rolls it out in other cities.
The SBI scrip ended 2.56 per cent lower at ₹195.80 on the BSE on Thursday