BANGALORE: Middle level executive from foreign banks are now maneuvering away from foreign banks to work with domestic firms, as they are lured by stock options as well as space to make decisions.

Himanshu Bhagat who earlier headed the wealth management business in India at Morgan Stanley’s had recently moved to work at India Infoline (IIFL) Wealth Management as a Managing Partner.  Holding 17 years of experience in the industry, Bhagat said, "I declined offers from two foreign banks with overseas relocation opportunities, but joined IIFL.”

Similarly, executives within the age group of 35-45 are quitting their upscale foreign banks and financial institutions like Morgan Stanley, HSBC, DBS, Standard Chartered, Citi, Goldman Sachs, 3i Group Plc and Temasek Group, for domestic firms like India Infoline, Centrum and Edelweis, reports ET.

Domestic financial services companies testify that the growth has doubled in head count with the new employees from former foreign banks. For instance, three fourths of India Infoline’s employees hired in the past one year, hail from foreign institutions.  Meanwhile, Edelweiss Group had selected 25-30 people from global financial institutions with the rank of Vice-President and higher positions than in comparative to those hired in the previous year with 10-12.

 Apart from the stock options and the growth speed of this sector in the country, the main reason behind the drive for executives to migrate to domestic firms is the freedom of decision making without having to seek a number of approvals.

Arpita Vinay, Executive Director at Centrum (Wealth) said, "We want to promote people as personal brands and completely empower them to contribute in building businesses by using their skills, experience and relationships."  With the focus on private banking and advisory services, the talent pool in general which includes employees from top overseas and domestic firms has received a hike in compensations of 15-20 percent.

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