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SG Private Banking reaffirms NRI commitment

Balakrishnan Kunnambath poached from ABN Dubai.

SG Private Banking has signalled its intentions to gain a larger foothold in the region by gaining the signature of Balakrishnan Kunnambath. Kunnambath will be based out of Singapore, SG Private Banking's regional hub for Asia-Pacific including& Japan and takes up a& newly created role of& managing director and global head of the Indian Subcontinent.

The new posting requires him to primarily focus on building and co-ordinating a cross border team of specialist private bankers based in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, London and Geneva. These& provide investment and financial engineering& advice to high net worth non-resident Indians (NRI) and Subcontinent private clients.Part of the role will also include driving SG's product solutions to NRI clients, which consists of inbound investments into Indian capital markets along with a suite of global investment opportunities.

Kunnambath will report to Daniel Truchi, SG Private Banking chief executive officer (Asia-Pacific), chairman and CEO of SG Trust (Asia) Ltd and chairman of SG Private Banking (Japan) Ltd.

He makes the trip east from ABN AMRO in Dubai, where he was its head of private banking UAE and global head of subcontinent private clients, where he managed a cross border, multi-cultural team. .

The move comes after SG's recent acquisition of a 37% stake in an asset management venture with State Bank of India (SBI) and its plans to make a significant drive into the NRI market.

"SG is very keen to increase its market share in this high growth Indian diaspora segment and is optimistic that wealth creation will continue to grow, with the main driving forces coming from North Asia, the India Subcontinent as well as Europe," says Truchi. "Hence, SG Private Banking will require additional experienced human resources staff to join our growing team. Throughout his extensive banking career, Mr Kunnambath has built up an excellent know-how of the specific requirements to this unique and highly sophisticated clientele."

Kunnambath joins SG Private Banking in March.