Asean’s next generation of wealthy clients are moving away from parents’ banks: study

[SINGAPORE] The next generation of wealth holders in South-east Asia are choosing their own banking partners rather than sticking with their parents’ banks, as their investment needs and expectations change, a study found.

Some 71 per cent of next-generation wealth holders have their main banking relationship at a bank different from their parents’, while 68 per cent have relationships with three or more banks, going by the NextGen Private Banking Clients 2026 study, published on Thursday (Sep 24) by Swiss research and strategy platform WealthSummit.

“Banks and independent wealth managers can no longer count on keeping the next generation simply because they served their parents – they have to earn these clients’ loyalty,” said WealthSummit CEO Christoph Kunzle.

The findings suggest that private banks face growing competition for assets as wealth passes between generations, with younger and next-generation clients placing greater emphasis on investment performance, pricing and access to a wider range of products and platforms.

The study involved 1,049 “NextGen” clients in South-east Asia, and was conducted from August to September. It defines these respondents, who span generations X, Y and Z, as those who will receive, control or have recently received transferred wealth.

The private banks of the future, it found, would need to offer transparent fees, access to networks, serve across generations, have artificial intelligence efficiency with human judgment, and have adviser continuity.

These banks’ platforms should also offer borderless banking, full asset access and total wealth view, the study said.

When clients are unhappy, they do not close the account; rather, they leave a small balance and send new money elsewhere, such as to brokers, it added.

Dr Kunzle noted that the multi-banking approach is quite common in the NextGen segment, given a “conscious portfolio approach… to not have all your eggs in one basket”.

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Some 42 per cent of respondents said they would consider independent asset managers as an alternative to private banks, while 39 per cent picked family offices. Just 20 per cent said that a private bank remains their first choice.

Dr Kunzle said that some NextGen clients are “a bit sick and tired of the sometimes too salesy approach” of private banks; instead, they value independent and actual advice.

Independent asset managers and family offices may have a slight advantage, as they do not typically have their own products to push, he added.

Claude Baumann, chairman of WealthSummit, said that, when targeting the next generation, it could also be a wrong approach for banks to just look at the children of their existing clients.

This comes as the study found that Gen X – those born between 1965 and 1979 – was the dominant cohort shaping the next phase of wealth management in Singapore and South-east Asia.

“The NextGen segment is considerably older than industry marketing often suggests, which tends to focus stereotypically on Gen Z (those born between 1995 and 2010),” stated the report.

Baumann noted: “The private banks are focusing very much on organising seminars and study trips and tours with the existing children of their clients, and that’s okay.

“But this is only a limited segment of this clientele, and the banks should really be much more open and willing to collaborate with fintech startups and widen their offering.”