ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, is in talks with the UK-based Fortis Private Investment Management to offer wealth management services to high net worth clients in an effort to tap into the country’s growing affluence. The Mumbai-based bank is still exploring the nature of the arrangement. It could be a joint venture or even an advisory arrangement under which ICICI will refer its clients to the overseas investment manager, said a report on Livemint. ICICI currently offers enhanced banking services to individuals and families, and manages portfolios of INR500,000 ($12,700) to INR5 million. But the new venture is expected to focus on clients with a minimum portfolio of $1 million. ICICI Bank’s new wealth management arm would provide private banking, estate planning, asset management, legal advice, investment management, tax planning and portfolio management. Banking analysts see the move as a logical extension of its retail business, which accounts for about 60 per cent of its total revenue. The bank has a customer base of 25 million and even though growth of retail assets has slowed to around 20 per cent this year, it has been aggressively gathering retail deposits. According to an Asia-Pacific Wealth Report published by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, there were almost 1.2 million wealthy individuals in India in 2006 with an aggregate net worth of $350 billion. The majority of India’s HNWIs are between the ages of 41 years and 55 years, said the report.