Q1: How did the business perform in 2025, and what drove its growth over the past year? How has the cost-income ratio trended this year, and what were the key factors influencing it? Looking ahead, what are your main priorities and strategic plans for 2026? 

Our top-line revenue has increased by more than 50% in 2025. Growth was driven mainly by private equity. AI-linked themes helped, but that is only part of it. The real driver is investment execution. Same market, same assets, different outcome. It comes down to how you structure and run the strategy. 

With AI embedded into the workflow, operational efficiency increased by an even larger margin, at around 80%. The same team can deliver faster turnaround and broader coverage with consistent controls. 

Cost-income improved this year as rental came down and we optimised our footprint. On the other hand, AI lifted productivity across daily work. We are seeing less manual effort, faster turnaround, and cleaner workflow, so our people can make the most of their time. 

For 2026, the priority is to continue building capability and integrating AI systematically into the workflow, and upgrade our platform through the right technology partnership, one with the purpose to learn, relearn, and reinvent – what we always say at RFO. 

In parallel, we are also setting up an independent technology arm. It is not common in our space, and we see it as a strategic build. The goal is simple: build what we need to raise our own operating standard and future-proof the platform.

Q2: Looking at the investment outlook for 2026, which markets and asset classes are you prioritising for client portfolios to capture opportunities while managing risks? How are clients currently allocating their portfolios, and what trends are you seeing in DPM adoption and investment behaviour? 

2026 is about width and depth; wider scope and deeper depth. We still prioritise private equity, including AI-linked opportunities. But we do not stop there — we go upstream and add that “upper-layer”, as we look into data centres and power facilities. Semiconductors matter; power matters. As a matter of fact, electricity is the world’s new currency. 

Digital assets remain part of a modern portfolio. The point is not to treat it as a separate “risk bucket” and stop thinking. The point is portfolio construction and how you use it. We also watch practical adoption trends, including stablecoin use cases, because they shape real behaviour over time. 

Clients are allocating more with an outcome mindset and more resilience, more insistence on speed, transparency, and control. On DPM, our model is already built around discretion and accountability. The overall trend, from our standpoint, is clients moving toward responsibility-led management.

Q3: With artificial intelligence increasingly shaping the wealth industry, how has the firm leveraged technology and AI to transform processes and enhance value for both clients and the back office? What key technology upgrades were introduced in 2025, and what are your digital priorities for 2026 and beyond? 

AI will not improve everyone evenly; it will widen gaps. Strong teams get stronger, weak teams get exposed. 

Like our Singapore CEO, Kendrick Lee, said last year, our team are mostly customer-facing, so the process almost always begins with our people. So we are focusing on “how” we use it. For 2026 and beyond, the priority is systematic integration. With that approach, it is no surprise that on the client side, they can feel the difference in responsiveness and better access to information. 

By mid-2026, we will also be upgrading our RFO APP experience by leveraging AI to help us digest high-volume input, so clients do not just receive information but consolidated, usable intelligence. A clearer “so what” for the clients.

Q4: With regulatory scrutiny and compliance requirements intensifying across the wealth industry, what updates can you share on how your firm is strengthening governance and compliance frameworks? How are you proactively managing risks while ensuring a seamless experience for clients?

Scrutiny is rising across the industry, but client experience should not suffer. Good governance is a habit, and compliance is not an excuse for friction. If the process is designed well, you can have both – tight control and seamless service is the name of the game. 

Our approach is steady. We strengthen compliance through consistency and discipline, and we also use technology to reduce operational risk. The goal is to be correct, repeatable, and reliable.

Q5: The private banking industry saw a plethora of leadership and structural changes in 2025. Looking into 2026, what are your key priorities for attracting and retaining talent across the front, middle, and back office? Are there plans for new hires in key markets?

The industry is moving fast, and people have always been the core at RFO since the very beginning. 

As I said above, we are modernising work with AI. But this is not to replace people but to remove low-value tasks. The results? That improves quality and reduces burnout. All in all, across front, middle, and back office, we build capability, not just headcount. 

In finance, it is common to talk about micro trends and granular strategies. But the foundation is still people. Top performance, in the short term and the long term, comes down to how you hire, train, and retain. That is why this year we also introduced our first chief people officer, Caroline Langston, to ensure our people strategy scales with our growth. 

Going forward, one key focus is building our own RFO Academy to enhance our internal talent pipeline. Caroline is dedicated to running this academy. It is about structured training, stronger bench strength, and long-term capability building. 

And beyond the business, we also want to do more as a socially responsible company. Philanthropy is an area we are looking at carefully, what contribution we can make, and how we can do it properly. Stay tuned for 2026.