EFG International will overhaul its corporate governance structure by shaving back the number of individuals on its executive committee (exco) and creating a new ‘global business committee’ that will include regional business heads. The changes, which take effect on 1 July 2018 and follow EFG’s integration of BSI, are intended to “strengthen the focus and responsiveness” to meeting the bank’s […]

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Standard Chartered’s CEO for commercial and private banking, Anna Marrs, is to step down in September 2018, the bank announced today. Marrs also held the title of chief executive for the UK lender’s ASEAN and South Asia (ASA) businesses since late 2016. Taking over Marrs’ place as the CEO of ASA is Judy Hsu, currently the bank’s head of Singapore […]

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The trend to tie technology overhauls to restructuring blueprints has been particularly prevalent among private banking units globally, and in Asia, over the last year. Delving in to this trend, Asian Private Banker asks industry insiders for the rationale behind the strategy and their thoughts on its overall effectiveness. “The move to use one platform helps the bank handle various offshore markets […]

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While many have speculated that ANZ may make a move to sell its wealth management business in the near future, ANZ has recently announced that it plans to put the private bank under review as it looks for ways to free up capital, Asian Private Banker has learned. The internal review is expected to be completed by mid-year and any recommendations are expected to be […]

The post ANZ will review wealth management business by mid-year, debunks sale speculation appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

The flurry of senior management exits from ANZ’s wealth management business following its major restructuring endeavour is symptomatic of the pressure facing Asia’s private banking industry, a senior consultant tells Asian Private Banker. “ANZ’s decision to restructure its business and integrate its wealth and retail [divisions] is a sign that private banks will be forced to either consolidate or rebrand […]

The post ANZ’s senior management exits “symptomatic of pressure” facing PBs in Asia appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Pictet Wealth Management has undergone a management restructure, splitting the roles of Hong Kong and Asia CEO, in what the Swiss pure play calls a reaction to “increased business growth” in Asia. Sharon Chou has absorbed the new title of Hong Kong CEO, in addition to her existing roles of Pictet Wealth Management North Asia CEO and executive officer of […]

The post Pictet splits leadership role, names new Hong Kong CEO appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Facing squeezed margins and tough competition, RBC Wealth Management is looking to consolidate its platforms in Hong Kong and Singapore into a single platform, Asian Private Banker has learnt.  According to individuals who are close to the matter, RBC Wealth Management is doing this to increase efficiencies and slash operating costs. “The idea is to leverage Hong Kong’s brokerage model and Singapore’s private […]

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Wholesale restructuring remains an industry theme, with UBS Wealth Management planning to merge parts of its back and middle office functions to cut back on costs and streamline internal IT operations. These processes are expected to result in a number of jobs losses, according to media reports. UBS will release its first quarter results on 3 May 2016, at which time the […]

The post UBS Wealth Management to restructure, streamline IT appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

National Australia Bank’s (NAB) private banking arm has been rebranded NAB Private as part of a wider restructuring exercise. NAB announced that it will implement a “next generation business model” designed to target the Australian high net worth (HNW) market. Under this model, NAB Private will become a pure private banking proposition offering specialised services such as structured finance. “The NAB […]

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Although assets under management (AUMs) at Asia’s leading private banks have maintained steady growth in recent years – the top 20 private banks grew these by 11.2% and 16% in 2014 and 2013 respectively to accumulate an additional US$350 billion – there is a general undertone that large integrated banks are not tapping enough into the supply vein that is their other local businesses. […]

The post Crow’s Nest: Asia’s untapped HNW gold mine appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

The Swiss lender has appointed a former Standard Chartered (StanChart) senior staffer as its head of financing, Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong. The new joiner will lead “existing capabilities” to form one Asia Pacific Financing team. In an internal memo obtained by this publication, Credit Suisse Asia Pacific CEO Helman Sitohang announced to staff the hire of Carsten Stoehr. Under […]

The post Credit Suisse hires APAC financing head, centralises region’s financing platform appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

About a month after it was announced that Barclays’ Asia Pacific wealth management (WM) head will step up to a global role at Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart), Barclays has parceled out some of his responsibilities to its current head of European WM. StanChart said last month that Didier von Daeniken will join in March as global head of private banking […]

The post Barclays European WM head to take on some APAC duties appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

With the Indian government and the US Internal Revenue Service inking in June a tax information sharing agreement under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), non-resident Indians (NRIs) with dual American citizenship are seeing rising banking concerns regarding their holdings, say sources close to the matter. “As financial institutions including private banks are under pressure, NRIs with US-linked accounts […]

The post NRIs’ FATCA concerns rise following June pact appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Income from Standard Chartered Private Banking’s third quarter results fell by 15% due to the impact of business exits and performances. The Asia-based lender’s income sat at US$435 million, down from US$469 million a year ago, due in part to weaker demand for wealth management products in Hong Kong and Singapore. Excluding business exits, income was down by 9% in the […]

The post Standard Chartered Private Banking income down 15% appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Credit Suisse CEO plans to restructure the Swiss lender to cater to global HNWIs, especially those in Asia, say sources. Media reports today cited sources from inside the bank saying that Tidjane Thiam has plans to decentralise the Swiss lender’s global operations, such as its computer science and global product units, and boost its Asia presence. This might involve job cuts […]

The post Credit Suisse to refocus on Asian rich appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

In a bid to strengthen its footprint in the Greater China region, Standard Chartered (StanChart) Private Bank has created a new role. Vicky Lin joins as managing director and head of Taiwan market, private banking, effective 4 September 2015. Her role, a newly-created position, will involve managing the Taiwanese market as part of the broader Greater China and North Asia […]

The post StanChart Private Bank names ex-Morgan Stanley banker as Taiwan head appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

It’s time for a midyear review of the industry. Asian Private Banker takes a look at the top five defining moments not just across the private banking board, but also in the specific niches of Products, Regulations, Technology and People Moves. We look at people moves in this article. A new wave of Asia leadership at HSBC Private Bank Few weeks after HSBC’s […]

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Four Macquarie Private Wealth senior planners have left to start Sovereign Wealth Partners, bolstering what many in Australia see as a trend towards boutique establishments. Jeffrey Wrightson, Nina Kazmierczak, Chris Forest and Stephen Thaxter aim to use their combined experience of over 60 years to target high net worth clients in their new venture. This latest move follows the recent, albeit […]

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As the banking group continues to streamline its banking and regional units, Standard Chartered (StanChart) Private Bank saw global profits plunge by 96% year-on-year in the first half of 2015. StanChart Private Bank’s profits fell by US$68 million to US$3 million due to increased impairment provisioning, the bank said in its latest financial report. Revenue from the private bank dipped […]

The post StanChart Private Bank profits fall 96% in H1 appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

In a bid to reduce cost and speed up decision making, Standard Chartered (StandChart) has restructured its client-facing and geographic segments with new banking and regional heads. The bank’s client segments will be split into three parts: corporate and institutional banking, commercial and private banking, and retail banking. The private banking segment is unchanged since the bank announced its business […]

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One year after UBS announced the successor to former regional head of investment fund distribution, Rene Buehlmann, the Swiss wealth manager realigns the business, with fund sales no longer being overseen by a lone unit. Paul Stefansson, Buelhman’s successor, will now play a more generalist product role, spearheading the bank’s investment and products services (IPS) portfolio specialist team in Singapore. In […]

The post Asia product team reshuffles at UBS; standalone fund sales unit ceases to exist appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

After four years with the bank, a product specialist within the portfolio management group has left the bank to join an asset manager. Allen Chiu has joined Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) as a senior sales manager in Hong Kong. He will be responsible for strengthening relationships with local distributors and financial institutions in Asia. Chiu will report to Kylie […]

The post J.P. Morgan Private Bank product specialist leaves appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

A government with the political clout to push through long-promised economic reform and an almost unrelenting rally at the nation’s stock exchange have put India – and the plentitude of investment opportunities it offers – firmly in focus. The euphoria has trickled down to non-resident Indians (NRIs) – a universe of notoriously price-sensitive but sophisticated investors with US$2.1 trillion in […]

The post The changing face of NRI banking, part one appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

“Professionalism” is the single word reply an ex-colleague offers when asked what was most memorable about Hermijanto. “That and her poise,” he adds. “He left out her multi-billion dollar client book,” says one source at the bank who confirms that Hermijanto manages over US$2.7 billion in assets. Asia Private Banker catches up with the elusive Hermijanto at the sidelines of […]

The post Straight Talk: Lynn Hermijanto, managing director, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Increasing ‘network capital’ could be an important strategy when it comes to succession planning according to research findings from Victor Zheng, co-director of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Social and Political Development Studies. Defined as a combination of social and cultural capital, Zheng coined the phrase specific to his study on century-old family businesses in Asia. It […]

The post ‘Network capital’: a new strategy for wealth succession planning? appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm will cut down on its teams servicing North African and Israeli clients following the conviction of a former employee for laundering money for Moroccan drug dealers. However a Hong Kong-based spokesperson has told Asian Private Banker that the investigations were not the primary reason for scaling down the operations. The London-headquartered bank had earlier fired […]

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As banks strive to meet increased capital requirements arising from the implementation of Basel III, UBS’ Professional Client Services (PCS) is offering a select segment of its ultra high net worth clientele the opportunity to benefit from this global bank deleveraging. The investment is being offered to clients with over CHF100 million (US$106.5 million) in bankable assets with UBS or […]

The post UBS offers select UHNW clientele investment opportunity based on global bank deleveraging appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

“Once upon a time, we were a bank that wanted to do everything for everyone, everywhere,” says Arjan de Boer, ABN AMRO’s head of private banking for North Asia. “But after the painful choices we had to make, we are now clear that private banking is one of the pillars that complement our overall business.” The “painful choices” de Boer […]

The post Straight Talk: Arjan de Boer, managing director, head of private banking North Asia, ABN AMRO Private Banking appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

HSBC will close its private banking branch in Ireland. It has currently ceased to take on any new clients or businesses and will close its Dublin office on October 19 this year. The closure of its Dublin unit comes close on the heels of HSBC’s recent US$140 million sale of its portfolio of private banking client accounts in Monaco to […]

The post Ireland latest casualty for HSBC Private Bank appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Australian fund manager, Equity Trustees has established a private wealth services division under the leadership of Geoff Rimmer. Rimmer, most recently chief executive officer of adviser group Financial Services Partners, will take responsibility for the strategy and business development of EQT’s new division. Robin Burns, managing director of the firm explained the restructure has brought the business’s superannuation, personal estates […]

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Threadneedle has added two key people to its fixed income team, with Singapore-based Clifford Lau joining in the newly created role of head of Asia Pacific fixed income and Zara Kazaryan joining as fund manager, emerging markets debt (EMD) in London. The appointments follow the recently announced restructure of Threadneedle’s fixed income team and significantly strengthen the company’s emerging market […]

The post Threadneedle restructures its Asia Pacific fixed income team appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Ravaged by the uncertainty and volatility of the previous year and battling an alarming margin-squeeze, the private banking industry in Asia seems ripe for consolidation. The question is whether the industry can pull off a bloodless-coup or whether private banks will have to re-invent their model for, and perhaps expectations of, the region. “Due to the general cost-cutting efforts and […]

The post The Big C: Will consolidation rescue, re-model or ruin the private banking industry in Asia? appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Equities and emerging market bonds are favoured investment selections, according to an investment guide by the Bank of Singapore (BOS). Positive market developments in China, US and Europe have diminished downside risks and motivated BOS’s belief in the recommendation. Despite short-term bullish trajectories, the guide emphasized the uncertainty of the global economy and a lack of visibility beyond six months. […]

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“Re-organisation” at Coutts, the wealth management arm of RBS, led to the departure early this year of senior banker and head of portfolio management, Susan Chua. Her exit came close on the heels of a global-restructuring that saw Ian Ewart take over from Byron Coombs as head of products and services. Under Ewart’s leadership, Coutts’Products & Services division was restructured […]

The post “Re-organisation” at Coutts prompts Susan Chua’s departure appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

The chairman of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, David Turner has announced that upon the retirement of Ralph Norris at the end of November this year the board has appointed Ian Narev to assume the role of chief executive officer of the bank.  Narev has been with the Commonwealth Bank Group since May 2007 and has been group executive, business and […]

The post Narev to take over as CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia on 1 December appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced that Ravi Menon has been appointed as managing director with effect from 2 April 2011. He takes over from Heng Swee Keat, who will retire from the Administrative Service on 2 April 2011. Under Keat’s leadership, MAS strengthened supervision of financial institutions in Singapore as well as financial stability, surveillance, research and […]

The post Keat retires from MAS, Menon appointed as new MD appeared first on Asian Private Banker.

Sun Life Financial has announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Yuchengco Group of Companies to acquire 49% of Grepalife Financial, which will result in the creation of a restructured entity called Sun Life Grepa Financial.  The new joint venture entity will allow Sun Life Financial Philippines to form a bancassurance relationship with the Yuchengco-owned Rizal Commercial […]

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