Malaysian native Jeffrey Yap returned to his home market after 23 years to take the helm as regional head of wealth management at Hong Leong Bank.

His aim is nothing less than to become the number one Malaysian onshore wealth business, while also becoming a significant offshore player.

“Why Hong Leong Bank? I think my perspective on running wealth management is, you need to prioritise your customers’ needs from a long-term perspective. And I think it aligns with what Hong Leong Bank’s culture is. This is one of the main reasons, as well as the traction,” Yap told Asian Private Banker. In this role, Yap manages both onshore and offshore wealth management for the Kuala Lumpur-based lender.

Yap’s experience includes 17 years working in Hong Kong and almost seven years in Singapore, covering a broad spectrum of financial services from securities and hedge funds to portfolio management and wealth management. He was most recently head of investments & wealth solutions for Southeast Asia for HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth.

His move from one of the world’s largest banks to a leading Malaysian homegrown name is driven by his conviction that the country’s wealth management landscape is transforming, from increasing inflows in international products to growing domestic investor confidence.

“I’m very excited about both the opportunity domestically, but also offshore, which is why I’m physically in Singapore,” said Yap, who currently splits his time evenly between Malaysia and Singapore.

According to APB Insights, Malaysia’s aggregate wealth management and private banking AUM climbed to US$96 billion as of the end of 2023. Hong Leong Bank was third in APB’s AUM league table for Malaysia, with US$14.68 billion in AUM, behind Public Bank and UOB.

Ambition: Number one

Yap’s strategy plays to the 120-year-old bank’s strengths in targeting entrepreneurs rather than being all things to all people. He is planning to double the number of relationship managers for onshore Malaysia over the next two to three years, and triple the number in Singapore. He did not disclose the number of relationship managers currently employed by Hong Leong Bank.

“My focus is really, what can we do best in Malaysia? And what can we do a good job in, in Singapore? That’s the objective,” he said. In his first month, Yap sent out a newsletter to all wealth management staff at Hong Leong Bank, laying out the six pillars of his strategic focus: people, product, client, branding, digital and partnerships.

“We are known to be an entrepreneur bank in Malaysia, and many of our wealth clients are entrepreneurs,” Yap explained. “Given that we are very close to entrepreneurs, we have done a very good job in growing the business with them. Now is the stage for us to kind of help them manage the wealth that they created.”

Hong Leong Bank is one of the main lenders in Malaysia that offers fully fledged financial services.

“This is where I think the strength of Hong Leong Bank is. We have been in Singapore for a long time. It’s just that in the past, we were more known to be a commercial bank than the private bank,” Yap said.

Apart from its home market, the bank has branch licences in Singapore and Hong Kong, and a subsidiary presence in Vietnam, and Cambodia. It also has a strategic stake in Bank of Chengdu in China.

With over trillions of dollars of wealth passing to the next generation over the next decade in Asia, Yap acknowledged that not all will succeed in capturing this wealth.

“It’s really hard for banks to be everything to all people […] But to be the number one wealth manager in Malaysia and be a significant player in the region is where we want to aim,” he highlighted.

“If I look at the Malaysian market, a lot of money is still kept in deposits […] So the opportunity set is huge for us”

Seeking partnerships

Yap outlined three strategic growth priorities for Hong Leong Bank. First, equipping wealth advisors with the expertise to guide clients on business needs as well as succession planning. Second, delivering tailored products and investment services to the entire wealth continuum – a strength Yap honed during his tenure at HSBC. Third, embedding technology to enhance how families and businesses digitally engage with their wealth management ecosystem.

Yap said the bank is looking at strategic partnerships to scale up the entire wealth management business on products and platform, and will announce a plan in the second half of the year.

Hong Leong Bank earlier this year inked a strategic cooperation agreement with WeBank Technology Services to elevate its operational efficiency and leverage AI to deliver personalised financial solutions for its customers.

“The areas that we are strong, obviously, we drive on it. We are very close to the customers. We have the balance sheet to lend. We know the market well. But the other part of our capabilities, such as product, platform and digital capabilities, these are the areas that we are looking for strategic partnerships,” he said.

For instance, the bank partnered with Gaia Investment Partners to launch a first-in-market private equity fund in onshore Malaysia last year.

Apart from wealth management and product partnerships, Yap highlighted that the bank is also looking to further strengthen its digital capabilities to serve the mass affluent market.

“We are not shy in terms of partnership, because we believe, as a good wealth advisor, you shouldn’t be bringing only the best of what you have, but bring the best of what the market has. You can only do that with key strategic partnerships that are best in class in their respective areas: put it together, and put it in front of the customers.”

At the same time, Yap said Hong Leong Bank will be investing in home market capabilities to enhance systems with digital capabilities. The bank should strive to be the first in coming up with new propositions for clients in Malaysia, he said.

“If I look at the Malaysian market, a lot of money is still kept in deposits. They are now just beginning to kind of venture outside of that into investments, so the opportunity set is huge for us from that conversion.”