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?

Standard Chartered Global Private Bank pivoted towards the ultra high net worth (UHNW) segment over three years ago, and we have maintained a consistent strategy, focused on our people, client capabilities, processes, platforms, and client engagement. 

We have maintained a steady hiring pace and continued to attract senior and experienced relationship managers and specialists. Our exclusive partnership with Ardian provides clients with access to institutional-grade private market opportunities. And our curated series of client engagement programmes, such as our flagship Global Families Network forum, provides an exclusive platform for UHNW families to discuss and share about topics that matter to them.

These investments have enabled us to deepen our relationship with clients and grow the business. We will continue to focus on executing our strategy in 2026 and beyond. We will also continue our investment in our platform to provide even more seamless engagement and invest further in how we digitally engage clients.

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?

Our house view is that financial markets are likely to remain resilient. Given the likelihood of continued Fed rate cuts, we are positive on risk assets. We prefer equities over bonds and cash, and are positive on gold in the long term. 

We are positive on the global stock market. In particular, we are bullish on gold miners, the US tech sector, pharmaceuticals and the utilities sector.

We see trade and central bank policy presenting two key risks. First, the uncertain policy landscape as demonstrated by the relationship between the US and China and with Canada. Second, we expect USD weakness to persist into 2026, with US interest rates likely falling much more than other major currencies.

We’ve seen a strong momentum in discretionary portfolio management, with assets under management nearly doubling year-on-year, supported by both market performance and renewed client engagement. Since mid-2025, demand has shifted notably toward fixed income mandates, with investors extending duration from ultra-short “cash-plus” strategies to longer-dated bond portfolios. We’ve also observed growing interest in local-currency exposure, particularly Singapore dollar and sterling portfolios, following the weaker USD earlier this year.

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?

Technology continues to play a central role in unlocking value for our clients. In 2025, we enhanced our clients’ post-trade experience by implementing real-time processing and automation across our platforms to improve efficiency and accuracy. 

In 2026, our priorities will remain focused on enhancing the client and frontline experience. We will improve the core wealth platforms through further upgrades, leveraging AI and accelerating our shift towards digital capabilities in lifecycle management and asset servicing.

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?

We adopt a holistic behavioural analytics approach to enhance our risk detection capabilities by focusing on the highest risk areas. For instance, we leverage analytics to generate risk heatmaps so that we can take proactive action to address emerging risks. We have also made a strategic shift towards consolidating activities to the first line of defence to better respond to emerging business risks. 

With continuous redesign of our control roadmap and leveraging AI, we support our relationship managers with the appropriate risk guidance, allowing them to provide a better client experience. These measures are part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining robust governance and compliance frameworks to support regulatory requirements and client satisfaction.

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?

We see changes in the industry from time to time, and 2025 was one of those times. Moving ahead, we look forward to more stability and forward momentum in the industry as a whole in 2026. 

For Standard Chartered Global Private Bank, we will maintain our hiring momentum in 2026, continuing to focus on experience (quality over quantity) and diversity (senior and next-gen RMs) and hiring across our hubs in ASEAN, Greater China and North Asia, the UAE, and India.

We also continue to advocate fair and transparent performance management and compensation frameworks that drive the right behaviours and performance.