Despite having suffered an outflow of talent in Singapore, BNP Paribas Wealth Management (BNP Paribas WM) is expecting 2024 to be its strongest year ever in the city-state and Southeast Asia. That is according to Garth Bregman, as he marks his first year as head of wealth management Singapore and Southeast Asia.

The recent launch of BNP Paribas WM’s Thailand onshore team has been positive, with eight relationship managers now on the ground, opening new accounts at a good rate every month, Bregman shared with Asian Private Banker.

“AUM and revenue are growing for our Thailand onshore business, and the business model that we’ve put in place is clearly working well. 2024 will be our strongest year ever for revenue and profit for Singapore and Southeast Asia,” Bregman said.

BNP Paribas WM’s key onshore Southeast Asian markets are Singapore and Thailand, while it serves Indonesia and Malaysia clients offshore from Singapore, covering Greater China and NRI clients from there as well.

“Our AUM in Singapore is up more than 25% over the past 12 months, and profitability has jumped sharply on the back of increased transaction revenue. Our equity derivative and FX revenue have really soared, and that’s been a very strong driver of our achieving record revenue this year in Southeast Asia.” As of 2023, the bank managed US$80 billion in Asia.

“You usually only hear about those who make big changes – it makes the news.”

However, the past 12 months have also seen some talent outflows in Singapore, including Southeast Asia market head Alison Lim and a team covering the Indonesia market. “Our approach to performance management has been very rigorous over the past year, and this has indeed contributed to some front office turnover,” Bregman explained.

Any changes?

Reflecting on his transition into the new role, Bregman said he has not implemented any drastic changes. Drawing from his six years managing investment services, he chose gradual adjustments over major reforms.

He believes that stability and patience are often more productive than significant disruption, which he feels is overused in organisations where new leadership makes unnecessary changes.

“I haven’t,” he said. “mainly because we had a very strong business in Southeast Asia already. It was a robust and well-managed business.”

“You usually only hear about those who make big changes – it makes the news. You generally won’t read about management transitions that result in increased stability rather than big changes,” he added.

“And we also take into account pedigree, how long they’ve been around because we are looking for the highest quality partners.”

Having spent over a decade at the French bank, Bregman took on his new role last August from David Lim. Previously, he served as head of investment services for Asia Pacific, a role now held by Shafali Sachdev.

“What I’ve enjoyed most about this job over the past 12 months is meeting even more of our clients. In the past, most of my client discussions were really focused on investments and on wealth planning,” he added.

“But the scope now is much greater. We talk about their family and corporate needs, in addition to investments, family governance, and family office structure – the types of topics that really interest many of our large clients in Asia.”

Co-pitching 

In markets like Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, a key selling point for BNP Paribas WM is its corporate and investment bank presence. Some of its biggest successes in Indonesia and Malaysia, Bregman said, have come from one-bank-focused transactions and collaborations, co-pitching with the investment bank to clients – a model adopted by several banks in the region.

“So when you’re dealing with very large families who have operating companies and investment banking needs for those companies, and at the same time, an overlap of decision-makers between the family office and the operating companies, a one bank approach can create real value for the family and company,” he explained.

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EAMs

With the relaunch of the external asset management (EAM) desk, including teams in Singapore and Hong Kong, Bregman sees more growth potential for the business. However, given the market’s size, selective client acquisition is key, he pointed out.

“When we speak to EAMs, we believe that the quality of the individuals working at the EAM and the quality of their governance, their KYC, and how well they know their clients is important. These are all important attributes.”

“And we also take into account pedigree, how long they’ve been around because we are looking for the highest quality partners,” he continued.

In the family office area, the team is also seeing increasing client interest in putting together robust frameworks for wealthy families. Looking ahead, Bregman plans to continue fine-tuning operations and selectively hiring, with an emphasis on growing the Thailand onshore business.