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Bank of Singapore names UBS veteran as Van de Walle’s successor

Lim Leong Guan, BoS
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Bank of Singapore has appointed UBS’s former APAC head of wealth planning and Singapore head of investment products and services as its new global head of products, Asian Private Banker can reveal.

Lim Leong Guan will replace Marc Van de Walle, Bank of Singapore’s outgoing products head who has joined Standard Chartered as its global head of wealth management.

Lim, who started in his new role on Monday, sits on the bank’s management committee reporting to CEO Bahren Shaari, and has also been named head of group wealth products for OCBC.

According to a later media release from the bank, Lim is responsible for the expansion and innovation of the bank’s offerings across key areas such as investment research and strategy, portfolio management, lending structuring and advisory, and wealth planning and trusts.

Bahren Shaari, CEO, Bank of Singapore

“Over the last decade, Bank of Singapore has built a reputation as Asia’s Global Private Bank anchored on the strengths of our global research and advisory capabilities, as well as the ability to avail a wide range of investment solutions through our strong open architecture platform,” read a statement from Shaari.

“That said, we recognise we cannot rest on our laurels and are constantly looking for strategic talent to enhance our value proposition. Leong Guan is widely recognised as one of the leading figures in the area of product innovation in Asia Pacific, with extensive experience in business transformation. I am confident that he will further broaden Bank of Singapore’s strong franchise and its continued growth in the new decade.”

Indeed, Lim has over 30 years of experience in the investments and advisory space, including 25 years with UBS, where he was pivotal in the development of regional product strategies and establishing product platforms Taiwan, Japan, and China.

The appointment will go down as one of Bank of Singapore’s most important in recent years. The bank is currently in the process of reconfiguring its products functions amid a wider growth drive that includes refining client segmentation and increasing its alternatives offering.

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