DBS Private Bank, a subsidiary of Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings, has been named the best private bank in Asia-Pacific for the third consecutive year by Global Finance magazine. The bank has also been recognized as the best innovative private bank in the region, thanks to its digital transformation and its focus on sustainable and family office investments.
According to Global Finance, DBS Private Bank has overcome the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising competition in the region by leveraging its DBS iWealth platform and its TeleAdvisory capability, which it launched at the start of the pandemic. The bank has also tapped into Asia’s family office boom and has championed environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments, which have become increasingly popular among high-net-worth individuals.
The bank’s financial performance has been impressive, with global private banking client assets growing by 7% year on year to 264 billion Singapore dollars (about $195 billion) in 2020, and fee income rising by 11%. The bank’s discretionary client wealth managed within the CIO Barbell Strategy Portfolio has grown by 26.3% net of fees since its inception in 2019.
DBS Private Bank has also been a critical player in the burgeoning family office segment, having doubled the number of privately held family offices it has helped establish and having grown assets under management fourfold since 2019. The bank has also launched innovative products such as the MSCI EM Asia ESG Leaders Outperformance Trade, a three-year long/short warrant that aims to capture the outperformance of ESG versus conventional assets, which attracted 690 million Singapore dollars of subscriptions from its private bank clients.
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DBS Private Bank has also demonstrated its claim to be Asia’s most innovative private bank, with a surge in its use of artificial intelligence and machine learning since early 2020 under the Intelligent Banking umbrella. Its in-house technology engine has generated some 13 million insights per month. The bank has also led the way with its industry-first smart triggers that leverage the group’s research capability, vast database and the privileged resources afforded by its corporate and investment banking capabilities.
Tan Su Shan, group head of institutional banking and group head of wealth management at DBS, said: “We are honored to be recognized as the best private bank in Asia-Pacific for the third year running. This is a testament to our unwavering commitment to deliver the best solutions and services to our clients, especially in these unprecedented times. We will continue to invest in our digital capabilities, our people and our products to ensure that we remain at the forefront of the private banking industry in the region.”
