SBI wealth business services in M'luru

The State Bank of India on Saturday launched wealth business services to cater to the fast-growing affluent segments of the coastal region.

The Mangaluru service centre at Lalbagh is the 91st centre in the country and second in the state after Bengaluru.

SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar told reporters during a press meet at Ocean Pearl that the Bank had rebranded its wealth business as ‘SBI Wealth’, offering the best in class personalised banking and investment services to its elite high net- worth individual (HNI) customers through a dedicated team of relationship managers.

“SBI Wealth is available in 20 major centres with a network of 90 wealth hubs in the country. Introducing wealth management has been one of the Bank’s top strategic priorities as we have a number of HNI customers whose banking needs are more sophisticated and who require a highly specialised service delivery mechanism,” he explained.

He added that the SBI is targeting on extending its wealth business footprint across 50 centres by 2020. Presently, SBI Wealth is serving nearly 35,000 clients and is looking to triple its base to 1.25 lakh with an assets under management (AUM) of Rs 1 lakh crore in the next two years.

Speaking on the centre, the chairman said that the HN1 clients would be offered the best products across categories from leading fund houses.

“They will have the flexibility to invest, transact, and view their portfolios through digital channels such as internet banking, mobile and remote relationship model. The Bank is also setting up a state-of-the-art global e-wealth centre in Kochi,” he added.

On SBI’s move to halve the daily cash withdrawal limit to Rs 20,000 a day, Rajnish Kumar said that the move is meant to encourage digital and cashless transactions.

“A study has revealed that 99% of the transactions are lesser than Rs 20,000 a day. In spite of limiting withdrawal, the percentage of transaction on digital model has increased drastically,” he claimed.

About the SBI failing to achieve the target of lending to priority sectors in the district, the chairman said that all banks have to lend a minimum of 40% of their total loans to priority sector – including agriculture, micro enterprises, education and social housing.

The overall average of the SBI in lending to priority sector is 35% in the country. In the next three years, the Bank will meet the RBI’s guidelines of lending 40% of the loans to priority sector through its initiatives, he said.