ICICI Securities in India won Outstanding Wealth Management Service for the Affluent at the virtual Private Banker International (PBI) Global Wealth Awards 2022 for the way it personalises and segments its client base to better serve their needs at scale and offers curated solutions.
ICICI Securities is an integrated financial services firm that offers wealth management (WM), investment banking and equity broking services within India’s ICICI Group. The home-grown private wealth unit was set up in 2010 to cater to the growing segment of ultra and high net worth individuals (U / HNWI) and affluent people in India.
The private wealth management unit serves more than INR 2.7 trillion assets spread across 60,000+ UHNI clients that is served by a strong team of 450+ specialists that includes senior private bankers, product, advisory, service and family office team members.
ICICI Securities WM seeks to attract both mass affluent as well as HNI customers. This creates two different ecosystems one serving the need of the young affluent customers by investing in technology to automate and personalise its service to mass affluent –including lifestage solutions, passive investments, loans and insurance; and the other delving into a more nuanced / bespoke solution for U/HNWIs including family office, retirement, alternate investments.
Also important is the use of digital tools, data analytics, client experiences, such as:
Gamification, of goal-based investment tools, which offer unique user engagements. This is allied to social investing alerts for millennials and online learning tools
Young Millennials also get a low-cost transaction platform that offers easy to consume actioning and research tools, all communication and services to millennials and micro-segmented U/HNWIs rely on smart data analytics engine installed by ICICI Securities. This drives personalisation and enhances the customer experience (CX). Clients only see content, product and service options that is relevant to them. Profiles might include a business owner, salaried worker, self-employed professional, retiree, non-resident Indian (NRI), active trader etc. who are offered equities, fixed income, alternates, global investments basis their asset allocation framework. Loans and insurance solutions are also offered as appropriate – via the most relevant channel – be that a website, app, digital assistant, or RM / financial advisor (see figure 1).
Figure 1: ICICI Securities hyper-personalisation process.
Source: ICICI Securities entry into the PBI Global Wealth Awards 2022.
The online brokerage service offers a ‘one-click’ risk-based and thematic mutual fund portfolio solution as well that offers:
Quick online execution.
Risk based allocations.
Holistic portfolio investment approaches and well-researched mutual fund options.
The global investment platform provides seamless on-boarding without physical documents via the online account opening ICICIdirect service. The alliances with interactive brokers give access to six major overseas markets, including the USA. Through this platform, it offers curated equity portfolios from the likes of WisdomTree, State Street Global Advisors and other such fund managers.
They also offer 25+ curated equity baskets called “Masters of the Street” by India’s leading investment advisors.
A comprehensive and aggregated portfolio analysis tool ensures:
A complete overview of a client’s portfolio across multiple advisors / brokers / wealth managers.
Real-time valuation of direct equity and day-end valuations of the remaining portfolio.
A function to easily upload or delete multiple portfolios & track their performance.
Portfolio analysis is digitally accessible at various levels and recommendations can flow accordingly.
All of this technology and automation is delivered at a low subscription fee, which is important in the mass affluent sector. An ‘investonomics’ digital engagement microsite offers virtual events, analytics, and other touchpoints to drive engagement.
The LIFEY goal-based investment and retirement solution is also noteworthy for its algorithm-driven portfolio creation approach, with built-in risk profiling and requirements capturing during on-boarding, allied to its solution mapping capabilities. This drives appropriate execution, tracking and recommendation engines, with a failsafe review procedure and course-correction capabilities to ensure appropriate life stage services.
They also have an exclusive family office to cater to Ultra High Net Worth clients. It provides niche as well as customized solutions to cater to the needs of the UHNI. These cover the entire breadth of the investment, protection and lending needs of the client. Offerings include direct equity solutions through various platforms like mutual funds, portfolio management services and Alternative Investment funds, debt solutions through direct corporate bonds, mutual funds as well as credit offerings through AIF’s. Offerings also include private equity offerings both through direct deals as well as fund offerings.
ISEC also runs portfolio management solutions for clients that have various strategies like smart beta, multi asset portfolios and active equity management on a discretionary and non-discretionary mode.