EFG Bank sees larger AUM contribution from Asia

SWISS private bank EFG Bank expects contribution from its Asian operations in assets under management (AUM) terms to increase to 40 per cent, from about 20 per cent now, and this translates to about US$18 billion in the "not-too-distant future", a top executive from the bank said at a press briefing yesterday.

This comes as the Swiss bank said yesterday that it had been awarded a wholesale banking licence in Singapore. This will allow the bank to accept Singapore-dollar deposits and offer Singapore dollar-denominated products, said Kong Eng Huat, CEO of EFG Bank in Singapore.

As a pure private bank, the bank's strategy in Asia has been to engage senior bankers who have been in the business for a decade or so, and have them bring over clients into the bank, said Albert Chiu, CEO of Asia-Pacific at EFG Bank. This includes clients from South-east Asia - such as Indonesia and Singapore - as well as China.