Winners rationale

It is only three years since OCBC NISP launched its private banking franchise and embarked on a rigorous trajectory of expansion and growth in the onshore Indonesia market. Now its one-stop investment solution is whetting the appetite of Indonesia’s HNWIs — borne out by the firm’s remarkable financial performance and a suite of products and services rolled out in 2020.

The journey of OCBC NISP Private Banking in many ways concurred with a slew of changes in the Southeast Asian country’s regulatory landscape. In 2016, the Indonesian government announced a nine-month tax amnesty programme to lure back offshore wealth, a move that propelled many domestic banks to cast their eyes on the pool of wealth sitting overseas. This was followed by sweeping tax reforms in 2019; and more efforts to attract foreign capital are expected.

While developments on the regulatory fronts were only incremental over the years, OCBC NISP was able to respond with incredible briskness. For instance, Indonesian regulators gave the green light to discretionary investment schemes in early 2018, and in 2020, less than two years later, the bank had fast-tracked and officially launched its discretionary offering that capitalises on Bank of Singapore’s global market and research expertise.

Emerging from a field where wealth opportunities were proliferating, OCBC NISP was in a good position to capture growth through its holistic approach. It takes full advantage of the synergies between the private bank and other OCBC-franchised businesses to bridge the gap between domestic clients and top-tier products/services, which are often only available offshore. The available regional connectivity — created through a network encompassing OCBC NISP’s wealth management business, Bank of Singapore, and the wider group — is what distinguishes the private bank from its local peers.

Because of its linkage with the OCBC Group, OCBC NISP Private Banking offers clients a variety of investment offerings, in line with a client’s risk appetite, and a research-based asset allocation method. Clients have access to both global investment research (equity, bonds and FX) from Bank of Singapore, and local research generated either internally or by local fund managers approved by Bank OCBC NISP.

OCBC NISP uses the concept of open architecture to partner with local fund managers, to be able to improve its fund selection, execution and pricing. It creates bespoke investment solutions for clients and manages legacy planning for the next generation through insurance structure and/or company structure.

On top of that, the private bank’s clients enjoy advanced digital services not seen among its onshore competitors. Its state-of-the-art digital banking platform, ONe Mobile, offers functions such as account confidentiality and voice-logged transaction capabilities, and enables convenient online daily transactions — a function many of the region’s private banks were scrambling to make available for clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OCBC NISP Private Banking has witnessed sustained growth since its inception in 2017, and despite disruptions caused by the pandemic, it was on track to achieve 24% total client growth and an AUM increase of 31% YoY by 3Q20.

OCBC NISP is Asian Private Banker’s Best Private Bank – Indonesia Domestic for 2020.