Interesting Article from India: "Wealth management firms tighten internal controls - Business Standard" - 7 Jan 2011

Wealth management firms tighten internal controls - Business Standard

High net-worth clients are calling Shiv Gupta, RBS’s private banking
head, demanding to know whether their money is safe. It’s the latest
fallout of the Citibank investment fraud. “We understand that clients
have a right to be concerned, and we are addressing their issues,” says
Gupta.

He
isn’t alone. Wealth managers at firms of all sizes are scrambling to
reassure their clients. Take Pawan Joseph, sales head at Motilal Oswal
Wealth Management. Joseph has spent the past few days just signing
letters — thousands of them.

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Queries are pouring in from clients, mainly in the Rs
10-20-crore bracket. Wealth managers said they were the nouveau riche,
who recently made money from their employee stock options. “There is a
great fear among them. The experienced ones use wealth managers mostly
to trade on their behalf. They have their own full-fledged teams,” said a
wealth manager.
Consequently, banks with wealth management arms are taking several
measures. To ensure there is no panic, each of them has started an
internal dialogue with their relationship managers. They have been