Over 100 leading IFAs from 20 locations across Northern India and six leading AMCs participated in the Wealth Forum Northern Region Advisors Conference in New Delhi on 4th and 5th June, 2010. The conference provided North India's leading IFAs a unique forum to share insights and ideas on how to grow their advisory business in these challenging times. The conference featured panel discussions on contemporary business issues, case studies of successful advisors across India, thought-provoking insights from leading AMCs and an exclusive message from the regulator on the road ahead for the advisory and distribution business. Feedback from participants was unanimous : every advisor took back tangible, practical business ideas that they intend implementing in their own businesses to help them scale up further and achieve even more success than they already have. And that is the core objective of the Wealth Forum conferences - we want to see serious and committed advisors gaining greater success in their profession and are glad to be a catalyst in our own little way in helping them onto this road to greater success.

Our sincere gratitude to the six participating AMCs - ICICI Prudential, Birla Sun Life, Axis, Principal, Kotak and SBI for co-sponsoring this conference and for sharing their rich insights with the participants.

The conference begins ……

Vijay Venkatram, Director, Wealth Forum, kicks off the 2 day conference
with a welcome address. He spelt out the objectives of this conference and
how these objectives were sought to be accomplished over the 2 days of the
conference.

Over 100 leading advisors from 20 different locations across Northern India
were present at this conference.

SEBI's message : the road ahead for the advisory and distribution business

All eyes and ears for the regulator ! Participants watch with rapt attention
the video recording of an exclusive interview that Wealth Forum conducted
with Mr. K.N.Vaidyanathan, Executive Director, SEBI on the road ahead
for the distribution and advisory business.

A lively debate ensued after the regulator's messages were taken on board
at the conference. V.P.Mittal of V Serve, Delhi makes a point.

                          Akash Jindal of PureGrowth, Delhi brings in some much needed humour                           after the sombre mood following the regulator's message.

Case studies of some of the finest advisors from across the country

Case studies of leading advisors across India - through video clips of their interviews
conducted by Wealth Forum - went down very well with all participants. Practical
insights from the leaders on how they are tackling current business challenges and
preparing for the future were immensely appreciated by one and all. The advisors
profiled had different business models and belonged to different geographies - yet
had one thing in common - a passion to succeed and grow, a willingness to meet and
overcome all challenges, an openness to reinvent themselves to ensure success in the
new rules of the game.

Birla Sun Life AMC presentation

Kalpen Parekh, National Sales Head, Birla Sun Life AMC took participants
through some of the very innovative client communication initiatives that the
AMC had launched. Its time the industry stops talking the language of the
manufacturer and starts talking the language of the investor - said Kalpen.
And he showed exactly how his AMC has successfully made this fundamental
transition in mindset - and how they are helping their distribution partners do
the same and thus helping them win more clients and penetrate deeper
into the vast marketplace.

                      Your biggest competitor is not another IFA - but the property market -                        remarked a leading advisor. Shashi Kumar, CEO - Real Estate Business                       at Birla Sun Life AMC, spelt out solutions to tackle this competitor and                       make it an advisor's ally - by offering clients real estate investment                       solutions from the Birla Sun Life Group.

Group Photo

A group photo before lunch on Day 1. Smiling faces all : yes, we are prepared to
take on the challenges. Yes, we will adapt and change. Yes, we will succeed in the
new environment too…..

Panel Discussion 1 : Platforms - a growth driver or a threat ?

Gurpreet Singh of Hexagon Consultants, Delhi provided a background on
the platform alternatives available for advisors to choose from today. He also
shared some useful insights on the challenges that platforms need to resolve
to make them a winning proposition for advisors.

                      Kapil Khurana, Amritsar shared his concerns on the stock exchange                       platforms as well as the super-distributor platforms. A key concern that he                       believes is not yet adequately addressed is data secrecy - how will his client                       data confidentiality be protected if he were to work as a channel partner of                       a BSE/NSE member?

A lively debate on platforms followed these presentations. Bharat Bhushan of Money
Options, Delhi spelt out his vision of a platform solution that would address the
concerns pointed out by the panellists. A common platform across all AMCs with a
Central Record Keeper (CRA) will help get the benefits of a technology platform
while dealing with the data confidentiality issues, he believes.

Sourabh Abbott of Ivy Capital, Delhi makes a point during the debate.

                        Harpreet Singh Dua, Dua Financial & Mgmt Consultants, Delhi makes a                         point about the urgent need to enhance service standards, ensure uniformity                         in service standards across AMCs and increase accountability for service                         among AMCs. Harpreet requested Wealth Forum to conduct a session                         with all leading AMCs and advisors to list out common service issues and                         work towards their resolution.

Kotak Mahindra AMC presentation

Its time to bond - says Kailash Kulkarni, National Sales Head, Kotak Mahindra AMC.
The conference provides a great opportunity to enhance bonding - but that not the only
"bond" that's on Kailash's mind. He believes bonds are coming back in favour and bond
funds represent a useful investment opportunity that advisors must start talking to their
clients about.

Panel Discussion 2 : Moving towards a fee based advisory model

Vijay Venkatram kicks off the panel discussion on arguably the most debated
topic in advisory and distribution circles today - how do you build a business
model that enables you to charge an advisory fee to your clients?

                      Ashish Modani, SLA Investment Centre, Jaipur provides a wonderful                       perspective on building a retail advisory model with SIPs at the centre of                       the proposition. Ashish takes the participants through the practical                       challenges he's faced in setting up his superb model and how he has                       overcome these challenges. He also gamely took the huge number of                       questions from participants on how he actually manages to recover fees                       from retail clients.

Ritu Mathur, MegriarAdvisors, Delhi shares an observation with Ashish
Modani as her partner at Megriar, Chittaranjan Sahai looks on

                        Major Ashish Chadha, Chadha Investments, Delhi speaks on the                         imperatives of charging fees to ensure viability of an advisory business. He                         also impresses upon the participants the need to interact with peers and                         exchange ideas and thoughts with each other on a constant basis.

Axis AMC Presentation
Want to double your AuM? There’s always a solution ! Karan Datta, National Sales Head, Axis AMC guides the participants through the world of hybrid products – a category that he strongly believes can help double the industry’s retail AuM. Karan took the participants through the idea of structuring solutions that control the downside in an open-ended fund, without compromising the potential upsides.		Shivkumar, Head of Products at Axis AMC explains the finer points of product structuring in some of the innovative new hybrid solutions that his AMC has created

ICICI Prudential AMC Presentation                                        Principal PNB AMC Presentation

Sankaran Naren, CIO - Equity, ICICI Prudential AMC gives some fascinating
insights into how to position and advice on equity funds - and how not to.
He is known to speak from his heart and not to mince his words - and this
presentation was no different.

                      Rajat Jain - CIO, Principal PNB AMC gave the participants a glimpse of                       what could become a significant fund management style in India in future :                       quant based fund management. Rajat talked about how some of the                       principles of quant based fund management are already being adopted by                       his fund management team, to good effect.

Panel Discussion 3 : Client Acquisition Strategies

Ashish Goel, Goel Financial Consultants, Delhi gave a very thorough exposition on
client acquisition strategies in the retail sphere. More important than the various client
facing activities that you perform are the kind of attention you give to building, training
and motivating your team and the back end processes you create to ensure scalability,
feels Ashish. Little wonder that with his focus on the right aspects, he continues to grow
his business rapidly.

Mukesh Gupta, Wealth Care India, Delhi makes a point during the panel discussion

              Samir Vora, Head of Marketing at Birla Sun Life AMC shares his               experiences on client acquisition strategies from the insurance world -               where he has spent considerable time before donning an AMC avatar

Ravi Kohli, Bluechip Capital Services, Delhi takes the participants through
the world of the uber-rich and what it takes to win the trust and confidence
of ultra HNIs and succeed in that top end segment. He also discussed some
of the golden principles and values that have helped him stay on course,
especially through tough times - which are universally applicable, irrespective
of your business model.

                      Ashish Goel and Ravi Kohli answer queries from participants on this all                       important topic : what client acquisition strategies should we adopt?

SBI AMC Presentation                                                         Panel Discussion 4 : Managing Change

R. Srinivasan, Senior Fund Manager, SBI Funds Management, describes
Charlie Munger's Lollapolaza effect - the theory about a confluence of several
factors at the same point of time providing an inflection point for a business,
an industry or a theme. He also described how in his opinion, such an inflection
point may be coming soon in the Indian PSU space. D.P.Singh, National Sales
Head took fund specific questions from participants.

                      Sapna Narang, Capital League, Gurgaon talked about how to transition                       from an IFA to a wealth management firm. Standardisation of processes,                       building a team and most importantly, remaining focussed on what counts                       and weeding out what does not - are key elements that will help you scale                       up and meet the challenges of limited bandwidth - the enemy no 1 for all                       advisors, feels Sapna.

Sapna talks about the "Love Bug" concept - of the 4 quadrants you could
find your relationship with your client in - and what is it that you need to do
to move to the top right hand quadrant - where you are loved and respected
by your client. Being in that "love bug" zone is what helps you retain clients
through all market conditions and in a highly competitive market.

                      Sunil Jhaveri, MSJ Corporate & Capital Services gave a fascinating account                       of how his firm kept adapting to the rapidly changing, fiercely competitive                       and highly price sensitive corporate and institutional segment, and carved                       out a niche for itself as a value added advisor who is respected by clients for                       the advice he renders - and is allowed to earn his fair margins despite a cut                       throat market he operates in.