Centrum to manage wealth of Lakshmi Vilas Bank’s HNI clients

In a first of its kind tie-up in the country, Chennai-based private sector lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) is in the process of a pact with Centrum Group, where the bank will refer its high net worth individuals (HNI) to Centrum for wealth management and family office services.

Centrum will offer its existing portfolio of wealth management services to the bank’s HNI clients.

Centrum, promoted by Chandir Gidwani and Jaspal Bind ra, will conduct the business through its wealth management arm, Cent rum Wealth Management. This is the first time in the country that a private bank is engaging an independent professional wealth management firm for such services. Centrum Wealth Management is a five-year-old firm engaged in investment advisory across all asset classes. It also has a ~500-crore private equity fund, named ‘Kalpavriksh’. The firm’s asset under advise (AUA) is more than ~10,000 crore and the plan is to scale it up above ~50,000 crore by 2021.

The bank has 471 branches and 941 ATMs across 16 states. Most of the rich clientele of LVB is located in South India. A significant amount of money comes to LVB through their connections with Gulf countries where Centrum has already an advantage.

Centrum recently tied up with Qatar-based Doha Bank, where both organisations would leverage each other’s networks and scale up respective operations in India and the Gulf countries, in areas such as banking, wealth management and foreign exchange.