Citi scam puts wealth managers under lens

The Rs 400-crore (Rs 4-billion) scam at Citibank India is causing jitters in the wealth management space.

Bank executives said that a two-pronged probe into high net-worth individual accounts has been initiated.

One, an audit of HNIs' accounts has begun. Two, the background of schemes where clients have invested are being probed.

On Wednesday, the Gurgaon police launched an investigation into Citibank employee Shivaraj Puri, a relationship manager, for duping HNIs by selling them fraudulent schemes and diverting the money into accounts belonging to his wife and other relatives.

HNIs are those with investible assets worth more than $1 million (roughly Rs 4.5 crore).

"There is a health check-up going on in our firm. We have initiated an audit of all the dealings that our relationship managers have with their clients," admitted the compliance head of a wealth management firm, under the condition of anonymity.

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