DBS Group Holdings aims to double fees from wealth management by 2027 as more of the world’s affluent investors shift their assets to Asia.
DBS’s income from servicing rich clients rose to more than S$2 billion last year, doubling from 2015. It expects the same pace of increase in half that period as well-heeled people and family offices from various parts of the world head to Asia to park their money, said Shee Tse Koon, head of consumer and wealth banking at DBS.
“Given the trajectory and traction we have had over the past years, our aim going forward is that by 2027 we want to double our wealth fees,” Shee said. Wealthy clients of South-east Asia’s largest bank usually invest their cash to improve returns and many have also tapped DBS for their trust and legacy planning needs, he said.
Shee’s optimism underscores the significance of rising wealth fees that boosted DBS’s income in recent years and will likely cushion its earnings with global interest rates set to decline. DBS is now the third-largest private bank in Asia, excluding China, only behind UBS Group and HSBC Holdings, according to rankings by Asian Private Banker.
The assets of DBS clients, including those at the private bank and lower-rung tiers, reached S$396 billion as at June. That is set to exceed S$500 billion by 2027 with the number of clients investing and buying insurance products expected to quadruple, Shee said without specifying the numbers. The bank also handles a third of Singapore’s 1,650 single family offices, he said.
Singapore saw a US$120 billion surge in financial assets booked from overseas last year, with China being the top source of new wealth in absolute terms, according to a Boston Consulting Group report published in July. Shee said there’s been “a good mix” of