Bank of Singapore inks deal to let clients book assets in Switzerland

SINGAPORE - Bank of Singapore has upped the ante by giving private bank clients more options - its clients can now book assets in Switzerland via an agreement it inked with Swiss banking group Bank Vontobel AG.

This agreement lets its Asian ultra-high and high net worth clients to open an account with Vontobel to place their assets in the Swiss wealth manager's Zurich booking centre, said Bank of Singapore, a unit of OCBC Bank in a statement on Monday.

Clients will have the option of choosing Vontobel or Bank of Singapore to manage their assets booked in Zurich, it said.

This makes Bank of Singapore one of the few Asian private banks to offer three booking centres - Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland.

Bank of Singapore clients will be offered Vontobel's asset-booking services in Switzerland, the leading destination for offshore wealth, coupled with its extensive range of European financial solutions and services, it said.

Switzerland is recognised as an attractive booking centre because of the stability and transparency of its legal and regulatory environment.

"It is a popular choice of offshore centres among ultra-high and high net worth individuals, holding nearly one-quarter of all offshore assets globally and is expected to remain the largest centre through 2020 due to its high service quality, diverse product offerings, political stability, safe haven currency and attractive location in Central Europe," said Bank of Singapore.

According to Olivier Denis, Bank of Singapore global market head of Singapore, International, Thai & Indo-China, there is "increasing interest from Asian clients to have their assets in custody in Switzerland on top of our current booking centres in Singapore and Hong Kong."

This tie-up with Vontobel to offer European financial solutions is in line with Bank of Singapore's strategy to work with a global network of providers, such as BlackRock and Blackstone, as they continue to seek yield in today's uncertain environment, said Mr Denis.

Brian Fischer, Vontobel head of external asset managers, said: "International diversification of wealth is enjoying increasing acceptance in many foreign markets and in particular in Asia, which still represents a growth market for asset management.

"The co-operation represents an example of a smart way to offer best know-how in foreign markets by a local expert."

Vontobel, with close to 100 years of history, offers a comprehensive range of customised wealth management solutions, including structured products, investments and wealth planning advisory services.

It is one of the leading issuers of structured products in Europe and was ranked among the top two in Switzerland with a market share of 26 per cent in 2016.

As at June 30, 2016, Vontobel held around 180 billion Swiss francs (S$255 billion) of client assets.

The latest move by Bank of Singapore comes amid intense competition in the private bank industry and following the completion of the acquisition of Barclays Plc's wealth management business in Singapore and Hong Kong last November.

The Barclays deal boosts Bank of Singapore's assets under management (AUM) to more than US$75 billion.

That narrowed the gap with closest rival DBS which as at October 2016, had US$83 billion of high net worth AUM (clients with more than S$1.5 million each in investible assets).

DBS said that the figure includes AUM from the ANZ transaction.

ANZ sold its Asian retail and wealth units to DBS last year.

lisen@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Feb 07, 2017.
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