Our client assets grew from $2.5 bn in 2015 to $26 bn in March 2022: Sujay K Rachh

Edelweiss Wealth Management (EWM) is an India based leading wealth management solution provider with presence across wealth & investment management, institutional securities, custodial and advisory services. Their focus is helping their clients capture opportunities and trends in financial markets and protect them from risks in a volatile world.

EWM has been one the fastest growing independent wealth firms in India. They have grown exponentially since their inception in 2010. Client assets, which stood at $2.5 billion in 2015, reached $26 billion as of March 31, 2022, a growth of 30% YOY. Their affluent client base now stands at ~ 853,700 as of March 31, 2022. Today, they are able to service a variety of clients because of their tried & tested advisory to build a portfolio via integrated hybrid (tech + relationship manager) model, customised basis the needs of their clients.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Sujay K Rachh, Head of Marketing, Edelweiss Wealth Management, speaks about their various product offerings, how they have adapted to a digitally transformed world, how the company is delivering value to their customers through a hybrid model, and more.

You have all along been a hardcore advertising professional. What’s your mandate at Edelweiss Wealth Management (EWM) and any goals that you have set for yourself?

Edelweiss Wealth Management (EWM) is going through an interesting phase. After the rounds of transaction between PAG and Edelweiss, both the organisations are working together towards a demerger and the eventual listing of the business, paving way for unlocking value for all its shareholders. It is here that my mandate kicks in to navigate and position the organisation in the most meaningful and purposeful manner. It is a complex mandate as EWM is a clutch of businesses straddling from B2B to B2C and to find a position for the organisation which stands true for all our businesses is a difficult and tricky task. Further I have been mandated to ensure that we find a unique voice for the organisation in the sea of monotony of BFSI chatter and steer the organisation in line with the leadership’s future vision. This, again, becomes an extremely critical task given the complexity of business and the fact that we are an independent wealth management player in the country.

Everyone today gives a lot of emphasis on brand purpose. What’s your take on that and is there a brand purpose defined for Edelweiss Wealth Management?

There is a certain amount of loyalty in customers for purpose-driven brands. Clients want to know if the organisation that they are dealing with believes in a higher order. It is my belief that purpose driven marketing translates into client faith in the organisation much faster. I also believe that we need to be proactive in our corporate citizenship roles. Today’s conscious consumer checks the impact of their purchases on various factors and is willing to switch brands if they find the brand to be irresponsible, hence many organisations have today adopted the ESG model.

I have been a strong proponent of defining a purpose for the organisation which is in line with their business or gives back to the business and society in a meaningful way. I have seen many organisations champion a purpose which has no real business connect and I feel that strategy just doesn’t work. Customers and clients see through things eventually. EWM while under the aegis of the parent brand, Edelweiss, had its purpose defined as, ‘Enabling aspirations by removing limitations’. It was short handled as ‘Being Unlimited’. Following the PAG transaction, we are in the process of evolving our purpose given the current scenario and business line-up.

How has the growth story been for Edelweiss Wealth Management and how many customers you are offering your valuable services today? 

EWM has been one the fastest growing independent wealth firms in India. We have grown exponentially since our inception in 2010. A few data points to showcase the same: our client assets, which were $2.5 billion in 2015, rose to $26 billion as of March 31, 2022, a growth of 30% YOY. Revenue growth stood at 24% YOY, while we recorded a strong 63% growth YOY in distribution income for the same period. Our affluent client base now stands at ~853,700 as of March 31, 2022. In the same breath, we service ~ 2,760 of the largest families in India for the same period.

This has been mainly possible due to the immense faith shown by the clients in our expertise, our track record in public and private financial markets, tried &tested advisory to builda portfolio via integrated hybrid (tech + relationship manager) model, customised basis the needs of our esteemed clients. Thus, we are able to service a variety of clients from the affluent to the large business and promoter families at all the touch points of their financial journey.

How have you differentiated your product offerings to stay ahead in a highly volatile and competitive market?

EWM has a unique place in the wealth management industry.We are the only independent player in the market which has an integrated approach towards its business. Our business model is quite inimitable. It is a virtuous ecosystem that has been built and hence, we are able to service a client in more ways than one. Additionally, proprietary models to innovate on products customised to clients’needs has ensured market leaderships in various categories of the financial markets. Also, the depth and width in our people strategy has helped us to deliver the best-in-class output.

How have you leveraged digital in today’s digital world? What is the role that digital plays in your kind of business?

From a business standpoint, what we focus largely on is the client experience, which can be best delivered with a hybrid model. The Digital aspect along with Relationship Managers on ground helps us create the client experience we desire. Our product delivery today gives the client the freedom to choose from our hybrid array of products and services. From a communication standpoint, we use almost all means available for digitally promoting our businesses and brand. From search to performance to social media, we deploy almost all channels and platforms depending on business we are promoting. Since we are unique synergistic mix of businesses, not all channels are leveraged for all businesses. Our goal is to optimise the platform according to the business requirements, considering business to channel synergy. Given the wave of new consumers coming into the fold of wealth management, we have also experimented on the platforms. This has led to 15-20% better engagement numbers.

Tell us about the engagement strategy with your current customers and what kind of media strategy you deploy to reach your customers in both big cities and small towns?

We deploy a diverse set of strategies to ensure constant engagement with our clients at large. The media strategy is essentially focussed on how our individual businesses can reach our customers most effectively. For our retail businesses, while we use digital platforms for reach, awareness and education, a very large number of our customers are also looking for content that helps and guides them in their journey towards wealth creation. Our business leaders take this opportunity to engage with them through planned webinars and two-way conferences. These webinars and conferences have been exceptionally successful in smaller cities and towns where the need toengage with the experts is higher.

For our other businesses, we use smaller consumer connects to large scale industry events to engage with our current customers. It helps us better to interact with our customers one-on-one and build thought leadership. We engage with our customers through an effective and targeted PR strategy as well. In a sense we have a media concentration strategy. The strategy of micro-targeting has served us well till date and we intend to continue doing this and developing it. We are expanding our horizons given the growth ambitions that the organisation has for the coming years.