Asia's trillion dollar private banking industry growth slows

ASIA'S trillion dollar private banking business continues to power ahead though growth is slowing.

Assets under management (AUM) for all private banks rose 11 per cent year-on-year in 2014, following a 16 per cent year-on-year increase in 2013, said the Asian Private Banker on Wednesday.

Total AUM at the top 20 private banks in Asia were US$1.55 trillion, according to the latest league table. The total relationship manager headcount at 21 private banks monitored increased by 7.2 per cent in 2014 to 5,449.

AUM per relationship manager also showed significant growth, with relationship managers averaging US$286 million in 2014, a 4.1 per cent year-on-year increase, it said.

Said Andrew Shale, Asian Private Banker's publisher: "When Asian Private Banker started five years ago, sentiment for the private banking industry was at its nadir. The upshot of 23 private bank CEO meetings I've had in Hong Kong and Singapore since the start of the year suggests that the resulting regulatory sea changes since 2009 have more than tripled legal and compliance costs at private banks - not a cheery thought.

"However, our figures show other encouraging numbers, the most outstanding of which is the growth in productivity and efficiency of the industry as a whole."

The study, which ranked banks by AUM for clients with investable assets of more US$1 million, shows that Swiss heavyweights UBS Wealth Management and Credit Suisse Private Banking continued to dominate the top spots with US$27 billion (year-on-year up 10 per cent) and US$23 billion (year-on-year up 18 per cent) AUM growth respectively in 2014.

DBS Bank was in eighth spot; its AUM grew the fastest, up 34 per cent to US$73.2 billion following the acquisition of Societe Generale Private Banking Asia (SGPB).

Bank of Singapore took the 11th spot as its AUM rose 11 per cent to US$51 billion.