Following the approval of RBI for renaming ABN Amro Bank NV's non-banking finance arm as RBS Financial Services, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. (RBS) has launched its wealth management foray in India.

The wealth management business under RBS Financial Services is going to be carried out through an entity named Royal Wealth Management.

In October 2007, the global assets of ABN Amro Holdings NV were acquired by RBS together with UK's Fortis Group and Spain's Banco Santander SA. The Dutch lender's asset management unit in India is going to be undertaken by Fortis while RBS is set to acquire the wholesale, retail and private banking businesses of ABN Amro in the country.

RBS is also planning to expand its presence in India and has decided to open five new centers across the country. An ABN Amro Bank official said, "RBS Financial Services is planning to set up five centres across the country, of which two centres are in Mumbai. The non-banking finance arm will act as a distribution arm of the bank."

He further informed that "Apart from distributing wealth management products, RBS Financial Services will also sell other asset products and...enter the business of collection of non-performing assets."

The official added that Royal Wealth Management would also launch and market the products and services of RBS Coutts, global private banking arm of RBS, in India.

RBI was objecting to RBS for operating ABN Amro's Indian business under two separate entities: RBS and RBS Coutts. An RBI official said, "Coutts is a separate entity and approval for use of the brand name would effectively mean allowing a backdoor entry for a bank."

Earlier in October, Foreign Investment Promotion Board had given an approval to ABN Amro's non-banking finance arm named as ABN Amro Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd for widening its scope of activity from a primary dealership. A primary dealership license enables a firm to trade in government securities. In December this license was transferred to ABN Amro Bank by the RBI.

Senior Vice-President and Head of Marketing and Communications for ABN Amro Bank in India, V. Vasantha Kumar said, "As part of our expansion plans we are looking at distribution of wealth products under the brand name of Royal Wealth Management and currently we have two outlets in Mumbai." He added that "Further details on our expansion plans will be announced shortly, once they are finalized."

In 1920, ABN Amro started its operations in India and presently it has around 9,000 employees in 28 branches.