Hi, I am Romil Kapoor, a Computer Engineer turned Swiss Banker turned Wealth Manager aur ye Hai “Meri Story”
Early Career
It was Boxing Day Holiday 2012 where I was exploring the white snowclad streets of Toronto and attending the ICEFEST and contemplating my next move in life.
I was in my early 30’s with over a decade of experience in Investment Banking and the current assignment at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) was coming to an end. I was seeking the next move into something that appeals to my nature. There I incidentally met a colleague from work who shared that there was a sudden exodus of investor clients from RBC as they were not happy with the “push sales” by the front office RM’s.
While that did not immediately trigger any ideas, but I had a problem statement in mind when I met my school friend in India in 2014. By that time, I had moved to Credit Suisse and my friend was successfully running a wealth management business in India.
I shared with him my experiences in Risk Management at Morgan Stanley New York and RBC Toronto and why those banks were unable to capitalize on our findings. Like all Banks their RM’s are incentivised to “Push Products” to clients without finding the “suitability!” “That’s why We Exist !!” – he said.
Inception
After a four-year stint at Credit Suisse in India and UK it was clear to me that even the No. 2 Swiss bank had multiple revenue streams, but Wealth management was not their focus. They were in constant losses and regulatory troubles and the time was right to answer my calling.
After over 3 years of deliberations, I chose to launch a boutique Wealth Management Firm. The idea being to “Rescue Investors from Bank RM’s” and build sizeable and significant wealth for them. Also, to allow investor to unlock their financial potential by streamlining cashflows.
VMAXIMO – Managing Wealth Unlocking Capital ® was trademarked and a company in that name was incorporated in 2017.
The next challenge was who and how will we reach our investors.
After meeting with a cross section of society we realized only Doctors and Armed Force personnel value Time and Services offered to them, we choses to service them and their families only.
We deliberately avoided “marketing” as the more marketing staff we hire the “more sales goal oriented” we will become and hence we became a “Client Referral Only” organization.
By being a Referral Only Investment firm, we can focus on client goals and not sales goals.
After the First 20 Clients there has been no looking back. As of now our consortium partners based in Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru manage over 600Cr in Financial Assets. More than 70% of our investor base by assets continues to be Doctors and Defence Officers only. We have over two hundred families who trust us with their nest egg.
The Road Ahead
While our focus on wealth management is clear, we identify ourselves as students of investor behaviour always trying to bridge the “Behaviour Gap” when it comes to financial decision making.
We use analytics to evaluate a product before suggesting it to our investors, but in the end, we are just a chauffeur to a vehicle owned by the investor to reach their financial destination.
At the heart of it, the only way to reach any goal is
“Make Your Passion and Your work the Same and do it with People you want to be with” ~ Ray Dalio
Happy Investing!!!
(By Romil Kapoor)