DBS Private Bank sees robust growth on multiple fronts

2021 was a year when Covid-19 surged anew in Singapore and globally, but clients of DBS Private Bank barely skipped a beat.

Assets under management (AUM) in DBS Private Bank rose by 12.7 per cent in 2021, compared to 7 per cent in 2020. Net new monies jumped by nearly 40 per cent, buoyed by robust growth in key business areas, including in-house managed products and family office advisory.

Joseph Poon, group head of DBS Private Bank, told BT that fresh inflows came from multiple geographies including Asean, Greater China and Europe. Despite travel restrictions in 2021, private clients engaged in discussions on their portfolios and wealth planning, thanks to an advanced digital platform that facilitated virtual meetings drawing both in-house experts and clients to the table.

Poon said: "Wealth planning means talking about a client's eventual death, succession and family. Everyone thought the only way to get a conversation going was face to face. But we have very strong relationships. We also created virtual meeting rooms; we were very fast, and intimacy was not lost. Therefore many clients started planning and doing things for their families and trusts."

"Clients felt they could do the same things they were able to do face to face previously… We're seen as a safe pair of hands for the next generation."

DBS does not specifically disclose the private bank's AUM. In 2021, AUM under the overall wealth management franchise, which includes priority banking, rose 10 per cent to S$291 billion.

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Growth was achieved on multiple fronts. Family office advisory, for example, facilitated the establishment of three times the number of family offices year on year. Family office AUM rose 115 per cent.

In-house managed products, which include discretionary portfolios; DBS Barbell Income Fund; the DBS IDEA (innovators, disruptors, enablers, and adapters) Fund; and the ESG Focus Note, saw assets more than double to S$10 billion.

Clients have also taken to sustainable investments at a much faster rate than expected. As at end-December, sustainable investments accounted for 53 per cent of portfolios, well ahead of DBS Private Bank's original target of 50 per cent by 2023. Subscription into ESG (environmental, social and governance) funds in particular surged by nearly five times.

In terms of sustainability, DBS aims not just to raise the penetration of sustainable investments in portfolios, but also to help business owners to transition to a net-zero world. "We want to help clients to become ESG-compliant in their businesses to help them remain suppliers to multinationals. If you do this fast and well, and for the right reasons, you may win more business from multinational corporations. There is an impetus to that."

In alternative assets, DBS also successfully helped to facilitate private asset investment deals by matching clients with other clients and parties in the DBS network. "Even though clients were unable to travel, they were looking at private markets because they believed public markets were quite overpriced ... We have boots on the ground in Asean and that has helped us connect our clients with others in Asean to explore opportunities."

As an alternative asset, cryptocurrencies are also gaining ground. This is evident in the growth in digital assets under custody via DBS Digital Exchange (DDex). Poon says there is "healthy interest" from clients - at end-December, DDex has S$800 million in digital assets under custody.

Meanwhile, the family office advisory is an opportunity to attract sticky long-term assets. Poon says Singapore's success in managing Covid-19, in addition to political stability and rule of law, has enhanced its status as a safe haven for the wealthy.

"For clients to entrust us with their operating business assets, and they want the business to perpetuate, means that they see us as a partner for many generations to come.

"For anyone coming into Asia, we want to be the stepping stone, the lighthouse for wealth management and also for connectivity with businesses in the region."