With bankers stuck at home, Asia wealth management hits snag

Hong Kong

PRIVATE bankers in Hong Kong and Singapore had their wings clipped by the pandemic, thwarting their pursuit of millionaires scattered across a region where wealth is growing faster than anywhere else.

For most of the year, relationship managers in two of the world's largest centres for cross-border money management haven't been able to freely travel to China and around South-east Asia to meet new prospects and verify ownership of private yachts, property and more. They've focused instead on a trading boom among existing clients.