BusinessWire India
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 2: CFA Society India hosted the 10th edition of its marquee conference, India Wealth Management Conference in Mumbai on 29 August 2025. Over 500 delegates including CFA charterholders, investment professionals, and wealth managers participated in the conference. Co-hosted by CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals, the annual conference brought together investment thinkers, policymakers, and industry practitioners to share insights, explore trends, and discuss the future of investing.
The day-long industry symposium explored a wide range of topics such as global shifts in wealth management, India's wealth growth story, advisory vs distribution models, investment strategies employed by family offices, growth opportunities in private banking, risk profiling & suitability, wealth architecture, manager selection and capital allocation in philanthropy.
The conference was chaired by Shamit Chokshi, CFA (Director, CFA Society India and Global Asset Management expert) and Vijayanand Venkataraman, CFA (Director, CFA Society India and Co-Founder, Wealth Yantra Technologies Private Ltd).
"Agile, Inclusive and Global, the theme of the conference captures the essence of transformation in the Wealth Management landscape capturing the advisor, the aspirations of the investor and nature of advice," said Vijayanand Venkataraman, CFA, Conference Chair.
Arati Porwal, Senior Country Head, India, CFA Institute, delivered the conference opening remarks highlighting the transition of India's wealth management industry from a boutique service into a technology-driven, client-focused ecosystem. She emphasized the importance of financial knowledge as a profound enabler and reiterated the role of CFA charterholders as guardians of the various financial dreams of their clients. She also spoke about CFA Institute and its commitment in upholding the highest ethical and professional standards within the Indian and global investment management industry and promoting thought leadership, advocacy, research, and enabling industry dialogue.
The first session of the day, "Building your Portfolio - Practical Considerations," said Rajesh Adwalpalker, CFA (MD & Head of Investment Lab, Asia, Citi Private Bank) and Shamit Chokshi discussing unique investment situations faced by wealth managers, family officers and Ultra High Networth (UHNW) clients in ASEAN and North Asian markets while building investment portfolios. They deliberated on the resilience of the 60/40 portfolio to generate superior long-term returns despite the occurrence of tail risk events, and adding that alternative asset classes may optimise risk adjusted outcomes further. Rajesh also discussed the scope for alternative best practices including building an IPS, creating strategic benchmarks, getting invested and managing risk. The session gave insights into how family offices invest and also covered the challenges of employing asset allocation strategies for investors with different risk profiles.
This was followed by a panel discussion titled "Learning from the Legacy: What Family Offices Reveal About Building Enduring Wealth" led by Natasha Adnani, CFA (VP, Investments, Nadathur Estates) and Abhishek Khandelwal (CFO, Snow Leopard Ventures). The session was moderated by Aanchal Almal, CFA (AVP, Products, TrustPlutus Wealth and Co-Chair, Mumbai Chapter, CFA Society India). The discussion offered insights on how the country's most sophisticated family offices with significantly different backgrounds started and evolved over past several years. Key elements of multi-generational wealth preservation, governance, capital allocation decisions, return expectations, lessons learnt, establishing guardrails and managing liquidity, risk, and return across investment life stages were discussed at length.
The next session had Marc Pilgrem (MD & CEO, Jio BlackRock Investment Advisers) who presented his views on, "Reimagining Wealth Management." Satish Betadpur, CFA (Senior MD & Head of Investments- India, State Street Investment Management), moderated the session. The talk enlightened the conference delegates about the global shifts in wealth management from product-push to advice-led, fee-based, and digital-first models. Marc spoke about how fee based propositions built around portfolio and planning solutions are becoming increasing important in US and EMEA Wealth industry. Marc shared his insights on how to apply the global learnings to India by working on deep structural changes to encourage people to move from saving to investing.
There was also an update on "20 years of Indian Association of Investments Professionals" by Rajesh Sehgal, CFA (Chairperson, CFA Society India and Managing Partner, Equanimity Investments) wherein he looked back at CFA Society India's two-decade journey being built on shared values and a common purpose. He highlighted the Society's key milestones of being a strong community growing from just 50 to 2,600 members and the successful shift from knowledge sharing to skill-based learning events, new marquee events, efforts around member value addition, deeper employer connect, global orientation, diversity while acknowledging the persistent efforts of volunteers who have been instrumental in shaping the Society's journey.
The last panel discussion was on the topic "Balancing Trust & Growth: The CEO Playbook for Private Banking" by Atul Singh (CEO & MD, LGT Wealth India) and Vipul Kapur (Head of Mashreq Private Banking, Mashreq). The engaging discussion moderated by Apurva Sahijwani (MD & CEO, Avendus Wealth Management) helped in understanding the evolving client needs in India's high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth segments, including personalization, global investment access, and intergenerational wealth transfer. The panelists evaluated strategies that private banking CEOs use to deliver differentiated client experiences while maintaining trust, transparency, and compliance. They also analysed key business model challenges such as talent acquisition, technology adoption, regulatory change, and rising competition from non-traditional players.
This year's conference also featured four pre-conference workshops on Manager Selection, Risk Profiling & Suitability, Impact by Design and Wealth Architecture offering attendees an opportunity for deeper learning and practical engagement ahead of the main sessions.
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