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DBS is dramatically increasing staff numbers in its wealth management business as Singapore’s biggest bank tries to attract rich Chinese clients keen to move their money overseas.
The bank hired 80 relationship managers focused on the north Asia market in 2024, with nearly half based in Singapore. People with knowledge of its plans said it intended to recruit at least 30 more in the year ahead.
DBS is seeking to capitalise on Singapore’s growing importance as an offshore centre for wealth management and on the city-state’s booming family office sector.
Other global wealth managers in Singapore have become increasingly wary about accepting accounts from rich Chinese customers following a S$3bn (US$2.2bn) money-laundering scandal involving more than 20 individuals linked to a gang from China’s Fujian province.
Singaporean authorities responded to the case by forcing banks to introduce tougher anti-money laundering checks on new customers, which have led to long delays in setting up client accounts.
DBS, however, has been expanding its wealth management business in the region, increasing the number of relationship managers by an average of 8 per cent a year since 2020 as other banks pull back.
Last year’s hires brought DBS’s total number of relationship managers to 850, with 130 additions planned this year, according to people with knowledge of the plans. More than a third of the group’s private bankers serve clients in north Asia.
DBS became the second-biggest wealth manager in Asia outside China by number of relationship managers and third biggest by assets with the collapse of Credit Suisse two years ago, behind UBS and HSBC, according to Asian Private Banker.
“On the back of robust growth in wealth inflows into this region, we hired some 80 bankers last year to serve the needs of our clients in north Asia,” said Joseph Poon, head of DBS’s private bank. “The competition for talent has definitely intensified over the years.”
Among the recent recruits to the north Asia desk — which largely covers mainland China but also Hong Kong and Taiwan — are Gloria Sun, who previously ran Deutsche Bank’s north Asia team, and Raymond Cheung, a former Credit Suisse banker who joined from UBS.
Singapore has seen an influx of money from wealthy Chinese nationals in recent years, but the money-laundering scandal two years ago exposed lax vetting procedures at some banks.
Police seized billions of dollars’ worth of high-end properties, luxury cars and jewellery — as well as assets in banks and crypto accounts — from criminals linked to scams and illegal gambling operations.
DBS has also increased the number of relationship managers catering to Russian customers, while other banks have pulled back from that market since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago and the imposition of sanctions on high-profile Russians. The number of Russian-speaking DBS bankers in Singapore has risen to nine.
Thailand is another market where DBS is seeking to win new clients, with a plan to double the number of relationship managers focused on the country by next year.
The private bank was one of the key drivers of the record annual profits DBS reported last month, with wealth management fees rising 45 per cent to S$2.2bn.
The focus on growing the private bank comes as Tan Su Shan, who ran DBS’s wealth management business for a decade, is set to take over as group chief executive this month.
