Reflecting on 2024, what were your bank’s major milestones from an operational perspective and how did you achieve them? Conversely, what were the setbacks and challenges encountered along the way, and what measures were taken to surmount them?

2024 was a year of strategic refinement, operational resilience, and continued digital transformation. Our commitment to reinforcing the bank’s position as a high-end investment house for managing our clients’ wealth has been underpinned by three key priorities: refocusing our Asia strategy, maintaining a robust risk and regulatory framework, and advancing our technology transformation.

In 2024, we took deliberate steps to refocus our Asia strategy, ensuring alignment with our long-term growth objectives. Recognising the dynamic nature of the market, we remained highly focused on our core value proposition, highly selective in investing our resources toward areas that provide the most strategic value, and committed to a lean and agile operational model.

As the regulatory landscape evolved throughout 2024, ensuring that our support and control functions remain focused and adapt to the evolving compliance landscape is critical. Besides ensuring a strong top-down culture of regulatory and risk awareness across all functions, the bank is mid-way through a strategic and multi-year front-to-back anti-money laundering (AML) transformation programme, Project Coral. This will establish an efficient and regulatory compliant AML framework, integrate streamlined AML controls, and implement standard operating models for client lifecycle management that comply with respective local regulatory requirements.

Innovation and digital transformation has always been a priority at Lombard Odier. We are now nearing the final laps of our seven-year digital transformation journey to re-think our proprietary next generation wealth management platform – the GX programme. This improved platform will see an elevation of user journeys or experiences, from digital client acquisition and onboarding, portfolio management, targeted investment advisory and sales management as well as front office efficiency.

Our continued focus and solidarity as one team across our regional offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo helped us succeed in delivering on Asia’s priorities over the past year. Our ability to adapt and evolve is what sets us apart and we will continue to place strong emphasis on ensuring our teams remain motivated, engaged, and equipped with the right skills to navigate an increasingly complex environment.

Given the increasing sophistication of digital channels and other client-facing innovations, how do you maintain an equilibrium between high-touch client services and cutting edge technologies?

At Lombard Odier, we recognise that private clients require a deeply personalised approach to wealth management, and that our technology augments the delivery and experience for our clients. Our philosophy, centred on “Rethink Everything,” drives us to evolve our services to meet the dynamic needs of entrepreneurs, families, and next-generation wealth holders.

One such example is LO Generations – which exemplifies our commitment to helping families structure and transfer wealth across generations, ensuring both financial prosperity and lasting values. To achieve this, we integrate bespoke family governance solutions, AI-powered predictive analytics and digital collaboration tools, enabling family members across jurisdictions to engage in strategic planning with real-time access to reports and tailored insights.

By harnessing technology while preserving personalised advisory, we empower our clients to build legacies that extend beyond financial wealth — embracing philanthropy, impact investing, and sustainability.

In addition, Your Wealth Outlook is our advanced portfolio management platform, which provides real-time access to investment performance, dynamic scenario planning and tailored investment strategies aligned with personal objectives. While our technology enhances efficiency, our relationship managers remain at the heart of every decision-making process — ensuring that each strategy reflects our clients’ aspirations, values, and long-term vision.

Operational resilience is at the top of private bank’s minds and cyber resilience has also moved up the agenda in recent years. How does your bank effectively manage third-party dependencies and enhance the operational resilience against the failure of third-party IT solutions?

Lombard Odier places operational resilience at the core of its risk management strategy, and we have a 700-strong technology and operations department to support the needs of our bank, our end clients, and other financial institutions and partners who leverage our technology solutions.

We also recognise the growing importance of cyber resilience and the critical role of third-party IT solutions that complement our in-house experts in delivering secure and uninterrupted services. This includes having a robust third-party risk management framework, regular review and testing of our business continuity plans as well as crisis management and incident reporting framework.

With more discussions surrounding data utilisation, banks have developed a profound appreciation for the worth of the data they possess. How do you identify, correct, and maintain data within the bank, and how are you leveraging data to enhance revenues and simultaneously enhance the quality of customer services and offerings?

Lombard Odier recognises data as a critical asset and adheres to a rigorous data management framework to ensure compliance with evolving regulatory requirements while maintaining the highest standards of data integrity, security, and governance. This includes having a structured approach to data identification, ensuring that all client and financial data is accurately captured, categorised, and stored in line with Swiss and international regulatory requirements.

Technology companies eyeing the financial services sector have the potential to disrupt the industry. Are tech and fintech companies potential competitors or partners? How are partnerships between banks and tech companies reshaping the industry?

Tech and fintech companies can be either potential competitors or partners for banks, but many have focused on collaborating with banks to enhance digital capabilities, customer experience, and operational efficiency. One area where fintech companies have collaborated with banks is in the area of ‘smart KYC’, which has transformed the way banks onboard clients and perform KYC checks.

For Lombard Odier, we recognise the rise of agile fintech competitors, and adopted a proactive approach over six years ago, assembling an agile team of reporting and performance measurement specialists, UX and web development experts. This blend of business and IT expertise has enabled us to create a state-of-the-art reporting tool that combines the agility of fintechs with the governance, regulatory expertise, and stability of a leading Swiss private bank. Named LO Smart, our tool consolidates, aggregates, and builds highly customised reports from multiple data sources and providers for our clients.

For example, we can meet specific client needs by integrating third-party data, such as risk model calculations, directly into our reporting. This API-based architecture enables seamless collaboration with fintech partners, transforming them from competitors into strategic partners, creating win-win business cases that empower our clients with speed and efficiency.

What is the sweet spot for a bank’s cost-to-income ratio in the region, and how are banks tackling the cost side of the equation in Asia, whether relating to investments, real estate, or other operating costs?

Compared to traditional retail banks, private banks typically target a relatively lower cost-to-income ratio due to the high-touch, relationship-driven nature of wealth management.

Similar to our peers, we aim to manage our costs in the longer run through strategic investments into technology and digital transformation to optimise operational efficiency and improve overall client experience and reporting capabilities. In addition, we remain focused on our core markets in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, where we have a physical presence. We also leverage on our strategic alliance partners across the region to further establish our brand in their local markets, while working with them in their wealth management growth journey.

The pandemic popularised work-from-home (WFH) policies and saw a rise in demand for flexible working arrangements. As we transition into a post-pandemic era, what are your bank’s policies in the areas of WFH, flexible work and parental leave? How has WFH impacted the bank’s operating costs, including the need for office space? Are flexible working arrangements and WFH here to stay for the long term?

Being a Swiss private bank with more than two hundred years of history, we have thrived over the years because we remain guided by our philosophy – Rethink Everything. This not only applies to how we work with clients, but also internally.

We believe that it is important to strike a balance between providing flexibility around work arrangements to support our teams, attract and retain top talent; but also maintaining strong relationships with both our clients as well as colleagues in order to ensure that Lombard Odier remains a place where people thrive and deliver exceptional results.