Singapore

TOP private bankers at a conference in Singapore on Friday presaged that in a decade, executing a trade would be free for private-banking clients, but that bankers will be billing for their advice like lawyers do.

It is a break from the current brokerage model, in a sign of concern over profitability amid a tenuous future for private banking in the region. This is despite the fact that assets under management (AUM) in Asia hit a record US$1.39 trillion last year, up 18 per cent from 2012, data from Private Banker International showed.