Alumni Spotlight: Leading Wealth Management in a Changing Financial World

Niti Saini, GMBA & PGPM 2008

1. Could you take us through your professional journey from completing your Global MBA at SP Jain Global to your current role at HSBC?
   Since completing my Global MBA from SP Jain Global, I have worked in Sales, Product & Proposition Management, Digital, Commercialisation, Strategy, and now in Client Lifecycle Management. These roles have been with Barclays, Axis Bank, Duncan Lawrie Private Bank, and HSBC. My experience has been heavily inclined towards Wealth Management and Private Banking.
2. What were some key takeaways from SP Jain Global that you’ve been able to apply directly to your current role at HSBC?
   SP Jain Global taught us both basic and advanced skills to manage the ever-evolving and changing corporate life. The core subject matter knowledge, combined with the kinds of projects we did—aligned with real-life implications of the theories—provided a firm foundation for the strong career I have built.
3. As the Director of Client Lifecycle Management at HSBC, could you share what an average day looks like for you? How do you navigate the complexity of global financial regulations?
   In my current role, I head Client Lifecycle Management for all HSBC Private Banking markets—Asia, Europe/UK, UAE, and the Americas. I have teams and stakeholders across these markets that I need to speak to and work with almost every day. So, my day starts very early in the morning to enable time to speak to our Asia teams. Banks possess an immense amount of data about their clients—from who they are to their families, their interests, and spending habits. This data is worth billions of dollars to anyone outside of this industry. Every large organisation like HSBC faces a big challenge: using this data in the most effective way so that both the clients and the bank benefit from it. Finding that balance is key to what I need to achieve for HSBC in my current role. Understanding complex client needs, the products we can offer, and the varied regulatory environments we operate in are core to being most effective.
4. In your opinion, what are the most critical skills for professionals in the financial services sector to develop today?
   Apart from obvious domain knowledge, the top three would be stakeholder management, storytelling, and analytics. Every role requires interaction with various stakeholders—peers, juniors, seniors, and executives. Knowing the core of what everyone does in the organisation and how your role is relevant to them is key. Managing everyone’s expectations while delivering what you intend to comes with its own challenges.

Alongside, there is ‘storytelling.’ We might know the best course of action in our roles, but we need to be able to weave it into a story that stakeholders can buy into. Always be ready with what we call an ‘elevator pitch’—if you are caught with a top executive, like the CEO, in an elevator, how can you describe what you do and how you are making a difference to the organisation in those 10 seconds? Your work will need to be presented to various stakeholders—to gain buy-in, to get teams to work with you, or to secure funding for your initiative.

Lastly, analytics—financial services’ core is data. It could be market data, company financials, or client data. You need a knack for quickly understanding the data, spotting trends, analysing, and detecting opportunities—all at your fingertips. This is applicable to every single role in banking.

• What trends do you foresee shaping the future of wealth management and private banking in the next 5–10 years?
  Automation and digitisation—across everything from trades to portfolio management, from marketing to every single client touchpoint. Banking is not the leading sector in automation and digitisation, and rightly so. Being heavily regulated, it’s not easy to turn a personalised service into a mobile app.

Challenger banks and digital advisers across the globe are disrupting the status quo of how private banking and traditional wealth management provide products and services. The new-age wealth clients expect a hands-on experience—like an adviser in their pocket. Their expectations are complex—they want everything in an app but, at the same time, need to be able to speak to a human whenever they want. Wealth managers and private bankers must find the perfect balance between digitisation and human intervention to acquire and retain clients. The more global the clients become, the more challenging it is to provide these services seamlessly across borders.

• What is the most rewarding aspect of your work, and how do you measure success in this area?

The growing number of private clients and the commercial impact—cost reduction, higher revenues, or increased assets reflected in the bank’s financial statements—are the most tangible outcomes of this role. Additionally, the progress we make in backend systems and how we improve our use of vast data resources is another fulfilling aspect.

• Finally, what message would you like to share with the current SP Jain Global students preparing to embark on their professional journeys?

Don’t stop learning. Your first couple of roles may seem too simple or boring, but there is immense value in starting from the basics. I understand we all aim for the stars, but don’t forget the tiny steps that lead to that ambition. Those foundations will build a strong leader. You can only be a strong leader if you know how even the most basic functions are done.

Both vertical and horizontal growth are important. While vertical growth is the obvious path to career progression, horizontal growth will expand your knowledge and experience. Continuous learning will help you evolve with time—adopt new roles, take up new challenges, and remain relevant in a dynamic corporate world.