The hiring market is starting to heat up once again in Singapore, with Julius Baer bagging the most talent this summer. But it is the background of Julius Baer’s new hires that has people talking.

In late July, Asian Private Banker broke the news that Julius Baer had hired a team of HSBC’s premier banking relationship managers (RMs) in Singapore, including Krist Wong, the head of premier international Singapore joining as a group head for Greater China Singapore. While Julius Baer declined to comment, APB revealed that over 10 HSBC premier RMs are joining with Wong.

Krist Wong, Julius Baer

What makes this move interesting is that the Swiss pure play is opting to hire premium banking RMs over traditional Swiss private banking RMs, which typically target multiple generations and UHNWs.

This leads to the question of how well retail bankers will succeed in a private banking environment when the model and nature of the two businesses differ radically. However, one senior banker recently shared with APB that “some retail RMs have the stickiest clients of all.”

Could Julius Baer’s new hires be more dictated by the talent shortage rather than a strategic move? “In Singapore, there is still a shortage of talent, as most Credit Suisse [bankers] have already settled somewhere else,” a Singapore-based headhunter told APB.

“We are still seeing individual movement instead of team movement,” the person said, adding that if Julius Baer has a growing headcount to fill, hiring from retail banking is one option.

Stefan Bollinger, Julius Baer

To add to this, Julius Baer’s senior executives have not publicly pledged to grow headcount in Asia, but nevertheless it has been one of the most active private banks in making new Asia hires in 2024, particularly in Singapore. Just last month, the bank announced the appointments of Urs Brudermann as group head of Thailand, and Muljono Surjadi as managing director, senior advisor, with a Southeast Asia reporting line. Both bankers came from Deutsche Bank Private Bank.

In the first half of 2024, the Swiss private bank reported an 11% growth in AUM, up CHF 46 billion to a total AUM of CHF 474 billion. In Asia, particularly India and Singapore, Julius Baer also managed to capture solid net inflows.

Julius Baer recently appointed a former Goldman Sachs senior executive, Stefan Bollinger, as new group CEO after months of searching. While Bollinger has not yet started his new role, he previously spent about three years working in Asia. Many people are eager to see his plan for Asia, as Julius Baer already has a steady presence in Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Thailand, as well as a partnership in onshore China.

UBS GWM and Deutsche Bank PB hiring

Julius Baer was not the only surprise in July; UBS Global Wealth Management (UBS GWM) also made a rare hire from retail banking.

After months of departures, the largest Swiss private bank in the region hired Hui Leong Tng, the former OCBC head of the premier private client team, as a market team head for UBS GWM’s private clients team, a unit that serves HNW clients.

Hui Leong Tng, UBS

In addition, Deutsche Bank Private Bank also hired two senior bankers in Singapore, including an ex-UBS senior external asset manager (EAM) banker, Hugo van Kattendijke, as head of EAM, as the German lender re-ignites its EAM desk. Paul Handley also joined the bank as market head for Southeast Asia from HSBC Global Private Bank.

For other international private banks, BNP Paribas Wealth Management has continued to bolster its team with significant hirings in Hong Kong, while its Singapore office is still relatively muted.

Canadian private bank RBC also took advantage of the Credit Suisse departures to hire in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Standard Chartered Private Bank, in particular, hired a number of senior bankers from UBS, HSBC and Bank of Singapore in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East after staying quiet in the first half.

In July, former RBC Asia CEO Terence Chow resurfaced at Hong Kong-headquartered multi-family office Raffles as COO.

Thank you, next

While some private banks saw strong momentum in July, others saw senior departures. Veteran banker Jenny Su, who worked at UBS GWM for almost two decades and most recently covered mega families at UBS’s global family and institutional wealth unit, departed the bank.

UOB Private Bank also lost its head of UHNW and global family office Ian Heng after two years. Heng was a former Bank of Singapore senior banker and is highly sought-after in the Singapore market.

HSBC GPB also witnessed another SEA banker, Thavendran Karthigasu, exiting the firm in July, as well as the departure of Chris Harwood, another former Singapore-based market head who covered the wider ASEAN and Australia markets.