Private banks in Southeast Asia have been seeing record growth across the region, according to private banking leaders at the APB Summit 2025 in Singapore.

The panel discussion, Southeast Asia focus: Gearing up for 2026 – growth, strategies, and expansion, delved into what has been driving growth in the wealth space over the past year and how banks are working to meet evolving client needs.

Southeast Asia growth engines

For HSBC, Southeast Asia remains a key growth engine for the private bank, as invested assets were up 10% with Asia driving a bulk of inflows. Tommy Leung, HSBC’s head of global private banking for South and Southeast Asia, shared that the bank has been benefiting from economic growth in the region’s markets and liquidity events, with significant inflows from Indonesia and Taiwan last year, and Australia this year, on top of having a solid foundation to grow on.

“What’s fueling this business? I think we just got lucky. With the financial market rally in the last couple of years, we really benefited from it,” Leung said.

Despite bullish markets, Leung said clients are increasingly aware of risk. To that end, HSBC partners with BlackRock to leverage its Aladdin system to quantify risks in client portfolios.

Seeing client, assets, and revenue growth across all markets, J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s head of Singapore and Southeast Asia, Paul Thompson, pointed out that having existing client portfolios that performed well has helped the bank attract new clients and talent.

While the bank saw significant traction in China and Australia, Thompson said the biggest growth engine lies in Singapore, with family offices moving to the city-state.

Echoing this, Banque Pictet & Cie’s primary source of growth this year lies in Singapore-based family offices. Alison Lim, the bank’s Singapore CEO, explained that behind these family offices are large entrepreneurial families in Southeast Asia grappling with complex business structures, as well as legacy and diversification issues, therefore bringing demand for the bank.

“When [the Monetary Authority of Singapore] first introduced the single-family office tax incentive, there were about 400 family offices. That grew to 2000 at the end of 2024. The pie has grown for all of us in terms of family offices,” said Lim.

Engaging private banking clients

As client behaviour continues to evolve, to better understand and serve clients, BNP Paribas Wealth Management has been conducting structured interviews with its strategic clients through its Voice of Strategic Clients initiative over the past three years, according to Garth Bregman, the bank’s head of wealth management for Singapore and Southeast Asia.

“Some of those questions are: Are we a tier one bank for you? Why and why not? The interviews are done by senior management such as myself, or Arnaud [Tellier], or Lemuel [Lee],” said Bregman.

The programme identifies gaps between clients’ needs and what existing relationship managers (RMs) offer, as RMs often lack the appropriate forum to ask these questions.

Similarly, J.P. Morgan Private Bank has also been engaging clients in structured conversations to ensure the firm’s value proposition aligns with what clients want to achieve with their wealth. According to Paul Thompson, this goals-based approach is central to being a trusted advisor.

“A great advisor will also be able to advise a client if a competitor is offering something that’s very attractive. If you really are their trusted advisor, you should tell them to do that,” said Thompson.

As for HSBC, the bank leverages its universal operations to understand its clients’ operating companies. By collaborating within the bank and building international connectivity by operating in most locations where clients want to operate their businesses, Leung believes HSBC can understand clients holistically.

“We work very closely with our corporate and institutional banking colleagues, because they talk to the CFO, the treasurer, and the CEO, and we talk to the beneficiary owner. Together, we can really serve them better,” said Leung.

How invested are clients in alts?

At Pictet & Cie, Lim revealed that alternative investments penetration lies at 20% on average, with it being one of the drivers for increasing family office business, and is gaining interest from next-gen clients.

To help clients diversify, the pure play offers fund of funds instead of single-line hedge funds, as well as both advisory and discretionary mandates that include 15 to 20 positions in hedge funds.

“We just had a new client come on board. This is a single-family office based in Singapore,” said Lim. “They have never had exposure to global banks, and what interested them most was hedge funds and discretionary mandates.”

Similarly, at BNP Paribas Wealth Management, Bregman also noticed growth in hedge fund strategies and semi-liquids in discretionary portfolios as client demand matures along with their understanding of alternatives.

“If I think back to when I joined 12 years ago, without question, the fastest growth in terms of revenue or AUM CAGR has been in private assets,” said Bregman.

To meet demand for alternatives, Thompson pointed out that J.P. Morgan has been active in the alts space since the late nineties. Currently, allocation to alternatives across client portfolios is at 15% to 20% for the bank.

“Clients have more demand than offerings we’re able to have. We used to have eight to 12 funds a year that we would focus on. Now we have 40 to 60,” said Thompson.

As for HSBC, client participation in alternatives is around 30% with penetration standing at mid-single digits. Leung believes client education on how different private assets fit into portfolios remains critical.

Family businesses driving private equity in Southeast Asia

While private banks have been observing increased client appetite for alternatives, Abiel Tan, director, private equity Asia at EQT, believes private equity is still in its infancy with big headroom for growth in Southeast Asia.

While hoping to democratise private equity, Tan also hopes to broaden the investment base for the traditional institutional-only asset class. Tan pointed out that Southeast Asia’s young digital population, a growing middle class, and generational transition have all been providing traction for EQT.

“You see a lot of family founder-led businesses looking for the ideal partner, not only to find liquidity, but also to bring their businesses to the next stage of growth and simplify their ownership structures,” Tan commented.