A number of Western banks are trying to tap into India’s growing status as a wealth management market. 

LGT has confirmed to this news service that it intends to increase headcount and try to double the money for clients in India.

The group launched LGT Wealth India last October, as reported here.

Atul Singh, who last year helped establish the Indian operations in conjunction with Liechtenstein-headquartered LGT, wants assets under management to reach $3 billion by the end of next year, a report by Bloomberg said. New law changes permit wealthy people to make investments abroad through limited liability partnerships. They permit LGT to give customers more choice, he told the news service.

LGT confirmed details of the report to this news service. 

“The demand in India is not a problem. It is the supply of a quality product,” Singh, LGT Wealth India CEO, was quoted as saying.

As reported here, here, and here, a number of Western banks are trying to tap into India’s growing status as a wealth management market. In related areas, for example, in late July BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, announced that it had, with Jio Financial Services, formed Jio BlackRock, a 50:50 Indian investment joint venture. JFS and BlackRock are targeting initial investment of $150 million each in the JV.

Singh says many rich families keep most of their wealth in local assets, and LGT Wealth India is trying to change this by helping them spread their risk. “Indian families need more global advice,” he was quoted saying. “The basic principle of risk management is ruthless diversification.”

 India’s financial services industry has started to move away from the heavily protectionist model adopted since the nation’s independence more than 70 years ago.