Operating as a financial services provider, BFC Capital has been active in the wealth management domain since its inception in 2004. The company offers a unique range of services like Corporate Investment Planning, Treasury Planning and Financial Planning, which involves Goal Based Planning, Tax Planning and Wealth Management.
Vikas Singh, Vice President of BFC Capital P. Ltd., discusses BFC’s methodology, how it operates in the Premium Segment and why it has been named among India’s Top 20 Wealth Management Consultants.
Approved by SEBI
Initially, the company was involved in the selling of investment assets. In 2010, however, the founders of the company identified the need for an advisory-based model in the wealth management space, almost three years before SEBI came out with a set of regulations for investment advisory. Following that, it became a SEBI Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) in 2016, much ahead of the competition. To cut a long tale short, BFCIA is BFC Capital’s advisory division, which provides financial advice to the firm’s clients.
Soon after receiving SEBI accreditation, the firm created its own wealth management matrix, MF Prodigy, with the goal of providing unbiased and client-centric financial solutions. The investor is put through a 5-step diagnostic process to determine his or her monitory duties and limitations. As a result, the firm is better able to offer suggestions that are consistent with the investor’s entire investing profile.
In addition, the business has created an in-house theory for comparing and assessing Mutual Fund schemes called “Reverse Pyramid” in order to ensure investor well-being. According to the firm, this “theory” would permanently transform the way financial products like Mutual Funds are evaluated and assessed in India.
That said, financial advisory is not just a revenue-generating avenue for BFC Capital. Instead, it is part of the social responsibility the company owes the community.
“It is shocking! The kind of malpractices in the wealth management space and the issues investors are faced with day-in and day-out. As we have some knowledge and wisdom when it comes to such matters, we feel responsible to contribute as much as we can to make people financially aware and competent”,
explains Vikas Singh.
“You sleep more peacefully when you know you aren’t just earning money, you are also influencing lives”,
Vikas concludes with a content smile.
BFC Capital’s Quality Circle Programs are one such initiative. These are seminars that are held to educate investors and assist them in better managing their funds. Over the previous few years, the firm has hosted over 200 such seminars, assisting over 7,000 individual and institutional investors.
These variables have acted as catalytic forces in propelling BFC Capital to its current position. The firm now has around Rs. 6 billion in assets under management (AUM), with more than 6,000 retail clients and over 100 institutional clients.
Achievements and Accolades
BFC Capital was one of the first wealth management firms in India to identify the need for an advisory-based approach and provide impartial, client-centric financial solutions. BFC Capital was recognised as one of India’s “Most Promising Wealth Management Consultants” in a 2017 report published by Silicon India.
The business has created “MF Prodigy,” a wealth management matrix that puts the investor to a 5-step diagnostic for correctly identifying his or her monitory profile, commitments and income included, in order to offer unbiased and client-centric financial solutions. By inventing the “Reverse Pyramid” theory, a novel but comprehensive logic for evaluating and shortlisting investment instruments, the business has broken new ground in terms of assessing and shortlisting investment instruments.
Vision for Future
BFC Capital’s ambitions, unlike those of its competitors, are not confined to growth and profit targets, according to Vikas. The firm also aims to change the lives of young people by hiring new employees and offering them opportunities to learn from the finest in the industry.
BFC Capital is now home to a small but competent staff of Portfolio Managers. However, when it comes to absorbing new talent and enabling new entrants to represent it in front of clients and handle their funds, the firm is highly choosy. Despite this, the team continues to expand at a consistent rate.
Vikas says, “The firm has been successful in improving the living conditions of its employees and clients based on these values, which we are all are extremely proud of. To summarise, we look after our Portfolio Managers so that they may look after our clients even better.”
Advice for the Emerging Entrepreneur
Knowledge is the vehicle that propels all success. This is the motto that has propelled BFC Capital to its current level of success and it is something that the whole team believes in and swears by.
Aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly those interested in making it big in the wealth management industry, should make it a point to do their homework in order to have a deeper understanding of the wealth management ecosystem and the underlying factors that influence it. Testing the usefulness and feasibility of concepts, doing first-hand research for establishing or sustaining a service or product and gathering consumer feedback are all part of this process. As a result, they will be able to detect client expectations and make the necessary modifications to elicit the desired consumer response.
It’s also crucial to have a strong advisory team on hand, because it’s the advice the company provides that sets it apart from firms that have turned wealth management into a commodity-selling rat-race.
As of today, those looking to invest have a plethora of platforms to choose from. Success is, however, available to those who possess answers to questions like “When to invest?” “How much to invest?” “What is the right time to exit an investment and book profits?” etc. Only a competent advisory team can keep offering these recommendations consistently and accurately, something BFC Capital has done with great flair.
Vikas also adds that entrepreneurs should also avoid undermining the significance of the support mechanisms offered by Operations and HR Teams. The support offered by these teams helps propel the efficiency of other departments, consequently causing companies and startups to function like a well-oiled machine.
Lastly, and most importantly, entrepreneurs treading the wealth management waters should avoid the get-rich-quick approach and refrain from pushing the landing cost of their services prematurely. Pushing costs too early, or too much can kill an emerging startup, a mistake many failed entrepreneurs have made and lived to tell about.
Good Business Driven by Good People
It is common knowledge that the ongoing pandemic and the developments surrounding it have consistently fuelled fears of a global recession. Riding on this negative sentiment, most of the prominent economic indicators have been signalling downwards, shrinking GDP, large-scale migration and escalating unemployment rates included.
These are hard times indeed. The money invested or saved, however, can help an individual or a family survive this adversity. Like any good Samaritan, BFC Capital sees this as an opportunity to contribute and give back to the community. Given our expertise in the wealth management space, we believe, we can be the difference between a struggling household and one that is self-sufficient.
“Good businesses are driven by good people! And we aim to contribute to the survival of such people by helping them make investment choices that keep their dreams afloat.”
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