DBS Private Bank in Singapore has partnered with DBS Vickers Securities to increase its Thai wealth management business to $8 billion by 2023. Currently, the assets managed are worth $4 billion.
A media report said that the bank also wants to double the count of its wealth relationship managers to 70 by the same period. The bank’s relationship managers are the single point of contact for clients.
Singapore’s DBS Private Bank has been operating its Thai wealth business for 20 years through its wholly-owned subsidiary DBS Vickers Securities (Thailand). DBS Vickers Securities offers onshore wealth management services comprising funds, equities, structured notes and bonds to clients in the country.
Sim S Lim, DBS Bank group head of wealth management and consumer banking, told the media, “We believe the Thai wealth market holds immense potential, having witnessed Thai investors’ growing sophistication and receptiveness to investment ideas, and the Bank of Thailand’s encouraging regulatory stance towards offshore investments.”
Thailand is becoming an attractive market for private banks. DBS said that Thailand has at least 122,000 high-net worth individuals — nearly equal to the count in Singapore. However, the high-net worth individuals in the country are somewhat conservative with offshore investments.
Other wealth managers have also started to explore Thailand’s rich landscape to offer onshore services. In February, LGT setup a subsidiary known as LGT Securities (Thailand) to offer wealth management services. LGT is the world’s largest private banking and asset management group.
More recently, DBS Vickers Securities has agreed to transfer its offline retail securities brokerage business to UOB Kay Hian by October end, media reports said.
UOB Kay Hian is one of Asia’s largest brokerage companies.