Issue 128 December 2019 Lite by Asian Private Banker

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128 Issue 128

2019

for the the region's regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s private banking banking leaders leaders Year in review for

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ISSUE 128

CONTENTS 5

Echo Chamber Industry 2019: A year of handshakes, green lights, and ribbon-cutting

CEO Andrew Shale Editor Sebastian Enberg Editorial Benjamin Yang Charlene Cong Alice So Rebecca Isjwara Managing Director Paris Shepherd Research Lisa Cheng Shunta Kamba Shivani Hemnani Business Development Sonia Lam Sam Chan Yana Zhang Charis Tse Ina Lee

Digital Alice Wong Sanya Amin Design Jacqueline Kwok Jordan Yim

Advertorial Seeking yield in uncertain markets

Technology Key technology trends in 2019

Events 3rd High Conviction: 2020 Investment Ideas & Themes THE FINAL WORD 19 20 22 24 27 28 29

Events Alice Chan Finance & Operations Karman Wu Yuki Chan Xenia So Taurus Mok Director Europe Madhuri Chatterjee (Actaea Consultants) Production DG3

+852 2529 1777 +852 3013 9984 info@asianprivatebanker.com

ISSN NO. 2076-5320

Regulations Key regulatory trends in 2019

Marketing Patricia Jover

Published by Key Positioning Limited 13/F Greatmany Centre 111 Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Road East Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel: Fax: Email:

The Roster Industry trends Business performance Investments Regulations Technology Buzzwords

Events 2nd China Global Wealth Leaders Summit 2019

People Movers & Shakers

We look forward to hosting you at one of our functions next year • only private banking and wealth management • only senior industry speakers • only for qualified participants 2020 calendar 26 Mar Singapore

ESG 2020 Forum Senior heads of sustainability, managed solutions, product gatekeepers, discretionary PMs and governance professionals

14 Apr Singapore

6th DISCRETIONARY PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT LEADERS CONVERSATION Discretionary gatekeepers, heads of product, heads of managed investments, portfolio managers

16 Apr Hong Kong

21 Apr Hong Kong

GREATER BAY AREA WEALTH SUMMIT Senior leaders of China headquartered private banks, wealth managers, brokerage firms and family offices.

12 May Hong Kong

11th APB SUMMIT 800+ expected C Suite leaders, heads of advisory, heads of investment/product, senior investment counsellors, senior relationship managers, compliance, risk and technology leaders

14 May Singapore

13 May Singapore

6th CHIEF OPERATING OFFICERS LEADERS CONVERSATION Chief operating officers, chief technology officers, chief digital officers, heads of strategy and transformation

RSVP to Alice Chan alice.c@asianprivatebanker.com +852 2529 1737

For more information, please visit www.asianprivatebanker.com/events

“Data’s true value lies in its potential to become actionable intelligence, and that’s where technology comes into play. Through the likes of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are able to convert data into information, then knowledge and, ultimately, wisdom.” Sim S Lim, group head, wealth management and consumer banking, DBS Bank “We continue to see strong growth in client demand for alternative investments this year. Inflows are set to surpass the 2018 level which doubled from a year earlier. Some private equity deals can complete fundraising in Asia in a shorter time frame compared to other regions — high net worth investors in Asia are attracted to top-tier thematic managers with a solid track record.” Lily Chan, head of alternative capital markets group, Asia, Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management “We are the first bank in Hong Kong and the first bank that has fully digitalised the journey of onboarding to all the products linked to a wealth management account. This is not an app function, this is a new virtual bank launch.” Sebastian Paredes, CEO, DBS Bank Hong Kong “The SFC expects all intermediaries to uphold high standards of integrity when managing trades for clients. UBS fell far short of these expectations by systematically overcharging a very large number of clients over many years. Although each overcharge represented a fraction of each trade, UBS’s misconduct involved deception and a pervasive abuse of trust resulting in significant additional revenue for UBS to which it was not entitled.” Ashley Alder, chief executive officer, SFC “Globally, there is a massive transfer of wealth from males to females — in the UK, 60% of the wealth will be in the hands of women by 2025, and that is being mirrored in Asia.” Tamara Gillan, co-founder, WealthiHer

ar ch

br ua ry

BoS, Edelweiss partner up

e ch o cham be r

2019: A year of handshakes, green lights, and ribbon-cutting

Schroders WM acquires IAM Thirdrock

LGT's Thailand office goes live

February Schroders WM acquires IAM Thirdrock’s wealth management arm 1 Feb – Schroders Wealth Management struck the first Asia wealth management M&A deal of the year, announcing in early February that it had acquired IAM Thirdrock. The deal brought some US$3 billion of AUM to Schroders’ books and top talent to Schroders’ bench — Thirdrock co-founders Jason Lai and Mervyn Yeo now head the Asia business of the merged unit. Bank of Singapore, Edelweiss partner to fill a "need gap" 14 Feb – Bank of Singapore signed what was described as a “milestone” partnership deal with Edelweiss to grow its India onshore profile. According to BoS’s global South Asia & Middle East market head, Vikram Malhotra, the tie-up will grant the bank’s NRI clients better access to Indian investment opportunities, while providing Edelweiss’ client base with access to BoS’s investment platform. LGT’s Thailand business goes live 21 Feb – LGT’s Bangkok office opened for business. The pure play announced on the day that it had acquired all requisite licences to start operating its wealth management business in the onshore market and that the venture would be led by veteran Thai banker Ekkapob Makeguljai.

March UBP’s Khanna eyes senior talent and wider product offering with Singapore licence upgrade 4 Mar – MAS granted Union Bancaire Privée the regulatory approval for a wholesale banking licence, enabling the Swiss private bank to offer SGD deposit and lending services in the city-state, along with a broader range of investment solutions to clients domiciled

BMO PB Asia inks partnership with SEI

UBP gets upgraded licence in Singapore

EFG acquires Shaw & Partners

Canopy partners with Raffles FO

LGT inks agreement with China Renaissance

in the country. UBP South Asia head and Singapore CEO Ranjit Khanna expects the licence upgrade to act as a drawcard for clients and talent alike. BMO PB Asia inks strategic partnership with SEI 7 Mar – BMO brought its long-standing North American relationship with investment platform SEI to its Asian clients through the signing of a strategic partnership. BMO Private Bank’s Asia CEO Monique Chan said then that the tie-up would expand the unit’s product shelf and give the Canadian lender’s clients access to 25 Dublin UCITS funds. Canopy partners with Raffles FO 13 Mar – Account data aggregator Canopy enlisted Raffles Family Office after having signed up two unnamed private banks earlier in January. Raffles cited Canopy’s track record, “deep understanding of Asian banking”, and integrated analytics platform as the key reasons for subscribing. EFG makes acquisition in the face of shrinking AUM 13 Mar – EFG International announced its acquisition of a 51% majority stake in Australian wealth manager Shaw & Partners, adding that it intends to double its Asia Pacific AUM by 2020. The acquisition granted EFG immediate access to the Australia market and is expected to bolster the bank’s China offshore business. LGT inks agreement with Chinese investment bank 14 Mar – LGT signed a strategic partnership agreement with China Renaissance, the Beijing-headquartered investment bank in which it took a US$25 million stake in 2018. The two banks agreed to share resources in China and internationally, and will jointly provide global wealth management services to HNWIs.

Raffles FO secures CMS licence

Alvarium Investments makes five acquisitions in eight months 21 Mar – MFO Alvarium Investments (formerly LJ Partnership) bought French asset manager Iskander, and announced that it had made four other acquisitions in an eight-month buying spree. “The acquisitions have broadened our regional resource, contact infrastructure, and our ability to source and execute proprietary investments,” Alvarium said, addressing how the purchases play into the firm’s Asia growth strategy. HSBC to roll out BlackRock’s Aladdin wealth platform to Asia PB clients in 2020 22 Mar – HSBC inked a global deal with BlackRock to offer the latter’s Aladdin platform — a digital investment management system — to its HNW clients. HSBC said that the rollout for Asia will begin in 2020 and that the initiative is part of a US$100 million investment in digital technology to help drive internal collaboration. UnionBank establishes PB in alliance with Lombard Odier 29 Mar – The Union Bank of the Philippines set up a private banking arm with the help of Lombard Odier, aiming to capture UHNW clients by combining its local expertise with the Swiss pure play’s private banking know6

Nomura, JPM approved for majority-control in China JVs

HSBC to roll out Aladdin for Asia PB clients in 2020

Raffles FO secures CMS licence to expand in Singapore 21 Mar – Hong Kong-based Raffles Family Office was awarded a capital markets services licence by MAS, allowing the wealth manager to sign IAM agreements with private banks that have booking centres in Singapore. “Initially, RMs were hesitant to join a firm that’s only starting out and operating without a Singapore licence,” Jaydee Lin, COO of the firm shared, adding that he hoped the CMS licence would serve to attract prospective employees.

SCB JB opens its doors in Bangkok

ICBC, CCB given green light to begin WM subsidiary operations

CEB gets go-ahead to set up WM subsidiary

how. “Our vision is to be one of the best and top-of-mind private banks within the next five years,” said Edwin R. Bautista, president and CEO of UnionBank.

April Nomura and J.P. Morgan receive green light to set up majority-controlled securities JVs in China 1 Apr – Japan’s Nomura Holdings and US bulge bracket JPMorgan Chase both received regulatory approval from the CSRC to establish majority-owned joint ventures in China. Nomura’s JV — Nomura Orient International Securities — will focus on wealth management, targeting Chinese HNWIs, while J.P. Morgan’s venture wants to strengthen its onshore business and offer a more “complete set” of services to clients in and outside of China. Credit Suisse guns for majority control in its China securities JV 16 Apr – Credit Suisse reached an agreement with its China JV partner Founder Securities to increase its 33.3% stake in the partnership to 51%. The venture — Credit Suisse Founder Securities — offers capital markets and advisory services to China onshore clients and has operated a brokerage business in Shenzhen Qianhai since 2016. CEB receives go-ahead to establish WM subsidiary 23 Apr – China Everbright Bank received approval from the CBIRC to set up a wealth management subsidiary, nearly half a year after it had been fined for WMP-related misconduct. It is one of the first joint-stock banks to receive the regulatory green light, after approvals were handed out to China’s Big Five state lenders. DPM will be “key offering” at SCB JB 25 Apr – SCB Julius Baer — a joint venture

CS increases stake in China JV to 51%

ril

UnionBank forms PB with help of Lombard Odier

Alvarium makes five acquisitions in eight months

INDUSTRY

between Siam Commercial Bank and the Swiss major — opened its doors in Bangkok and named veteran Thai banker Jiralawan (Cherry) Tangitvet, who resigned later in November, as its CEO. Julius Baer’s market head of emerging Asia, Christian Capelli, told Asian Private Banker then that DPM will be a key offering at the firm as domestic Thai investors are seeking to increase the portion of discretionary assets in their portfolios.

May ICBC and CCB given green light to open doors at WM subsidiaries 24 May – The CBIRC announced that it approved ICBC and CCB as the first two banks in China to officially start operations of their respective wealth management subsidiaries.

June UBS’s Edmund Koh: Japan tie-up a game-changer for WM partnerships 10 Jun – UBS and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings signed a partnership agreement to establish a JV, with UBS holding a 51% stake. The firms intended to start crossreferrals at the end of 2019. “This is a game changer for us in Japan,” said UBS APAC president Edmund Koh. “We believe that partnering our world’s number-one wealth management business with Japan’s top trust bank will result in an offering that wealthy Japanese will find compelling.” Noah’s Canada outpost secures PM and EMD licences 11 Jun – Chinese third party wealth manager Noah Holdings received portfolio manager and exempt market dealer licences in British Columbia and Ontario, allowing the firm to serve clients of the two Canadian provinces more comprehensively. Noah Canada Wealth Management, the firm’s Canadian subsidiary, was originally set up to serve the country's

INDUSTRY

UBS and SuMi Trust set up JV for cross-referrals

us t

LGT buys India's Validus Wealth

Ju BoS buys Malaysian investment firm

VP Bank, Hywin ink strategic tie-up

CS sells InvestLab to Allfunds

Chinese diaspora, but has since garnered attention from local investors who look for exposure to Chinese investments. Bank of Singapore buys Malaysian investment firm to capture onshore wealth 18 Jun – OCBC’s private banking subsidiary Bank of Singapore entered into a conditional agreement to acquire Malaysian investment manager Pacific Mutual — another OCBC subsidiary. Through the acquisition, the private bank intends to boost its presence in Malaysia, which it considers to be a core market in Southeast Asia. IIFL WM makes strategic investment in tech VC fund 19 Jun – India’s IIFL Wealth Management made a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount to a fund from early stage tech VC CerraCap Ventures. The fund, which focuses on the emerging areas of cybersecurity, analytics, IoT, and healthcare IT, is expected to provide IIFL Wealth with a strong foothold in the tech ecosystem of leading innovation hubs. Credit Suisse’s InvestLab platform to merge with Allfunds 25 Jun – Credit Suisse sold a majority of its shares in InvestLab to mega fund distribution platform Allfunds, retaining an 18% stake in the combined platform and seats on its board. The merged platform boasts over CHF 570 billion in AUM, over 78,000 funds and ETFs on offer, and a network of over 700 distributors across 45 countries. LGT makes India onshore move via M&A 27 Jun – Having opened its doors in Thailand in February, LGT made another onshore move, this time acquiring India’s Validus Wealth (formerly WGC Wealth). “Validus

Au g

IIFL WM invests in tech VC fund

Noah Canada secures PM, EMD licences

INDUSTRY

Venturous, Lioncrest merge to capitalise on China growth

Citi launches HNW centre in China

Wealth represents an excellent opportunity for us to gain a foothold in the highly promising Indian market and work together over the coming years to expand the business, which is still very much in its infancy,” said LGT’s CEO Prince Max.

July VP Bank, Hywin WM ink strategic tie-up for HNW China market 11 Jul – Vaduz-based VP Bank and Shanghaibased Hywin Wealth signed an MoU to establish a “collaborative platform” targeting Chinese onshore and offshore U/HNWIs. In this partnership, VP Bank will offer its private banking services through its Singapore, Hong Kong, and Liechtenstein offices to Hywin’s clients.

August Citibank launches HNW centre in China, targets double-digit client growth 2 Aug – Citigold Private Client opened its first wealth centre in Beijing with the goal of achieving double-digit growth in Chinese HNW clients. The bank serves customers with at least RMB 8 million in assets and offers a range of services including digital advisory tools and wealth planning solutions. Venturous, Lioncrest Global merge to capture China transformation opportunities 6 Aug – VC/PE firm Venturous and IAM Lioncrest Global merged to form Venturous Group, a capital-as-a-service business focused on benefiting from China’s “second transformation”. The merged unit is developing a strategic capital pool of US$1 billion, comprising US$800 million in future coinvestment opportunities and US$200 million in its ‘Hero Fund’, which invests in smart town real estate and digital transformation.

LGT buys Indian impact investor Aspada

MFO Credence sells majority stake to TIW Private Equity

IIFL acquires L&T Finance's wealth arm

MFO Credence sells majority stake to TIW Private Equity 8 Aug – Indian MFO Credence sold a majority stake to sector-agnostic buyout fund TIW Private Equity, with the intention of using the proceeds to enhance its advisory and operating platforms and extend its geographical reach. LGT buys Indian impact investor from Soros Economic Development Fund 28 Aug – Hot on the heels of its purchase of Validus Wealth in June, LGT Group acquired again in India — this time in the form of Aspada, an impact investor backed by the Soros Economic Development Fund. The buyout has resulted in LGT Lightstone Aspada, which will focus on high impact businesses across food supply chains, logistics, healthcare, education, and financial services in India. IIFL acquires L&T Finance’s wealth management arm 29 Aug – IIFL Wealth Group announced that it will acquire L&T Finance’s wealth management division to boost its AUM by some Rs 24,000 crore (US$3.3 billion) and front office headcount by around 120. The purchase also added L&T’s investment platform — which includes a variety of domestic and global offerings — to IIFL’s product shelf.

September Canopy signs fourth IAM to deepen footprint in Singapore, Switzerland 2 Sep – Canopy added a fourth IAM — Corecam Family Office — to its list of clients, with Corecam due to fully integrate the account aggregation solution by end-2019. Martin Lechner, Corecam’s founder and managing partner, said that Canopy is likely to provide the firm “significant efficiency gains”. [continued on next page.] 7

INDUSTRY

Canopy signs up its fourth IAM client

IIFLWAM debuts on NSE

MFOs Carret and Lumen announce merger

Luxembourg’s oldest private bank sets up shop in Beijing 18 Sep – BIL, the Luxembourg private bank owned by China’s Legend Holdings, opened up a rep office in Beijing with the intention to promote and facilitate collaboration between Luxembourg and China. “[It] will help us provide tailored support to companies, business owners, and individuals in China who want to invest and develop their business in Europe,” Marcel Leyers, BIL’s CEO, said of the rep office. IIFL Wealth debuts on NSE 19 Sep – IIFL Wealth & Asset Management made history in India as the first wealth manager to go public. The firm opened on the NSE with a price tag of Rs 1,210 and, by market close, was up 5% higher at Rs 1,270.5. Raffles FO opens its doors in Taiwan 20 Sep – Raffles Family Office set up a rep office in Taipei to capitalise on a large “old money” opportunity that exists in the market. According to Raffles COO Jaydee Lin, the move was prompted by the realisation that the concept of family offices is gaining traction in Taiwan.

BNPP announces strategic investment in Allfunds

DBS subscribes to Allfunds

to the portfolio manager and exempt market dealer licences that it had obtained in June. The new licence allows Noah to conduct fund management activities in the two provinces.

October BNP Paribas announces strategic investment into Allfunds 21 Oct – BNP Paribas announced its intention to take a 22.5% strategic stake in Spain’s Allfunds in order to develop and leverage the fund supermarket’s distribution capabilities. The transaction will provide BNP Paribas Securities Services “preferred access” to Allfunds’ market, while Allfunds will take charge of managing BNP Paribas’s third-party fund distribution contacts across the group’s wealth management, insurance, and asset management divisions. Raffles makes China onshore push via JV 25 Oct – Raffles partnered up with Singaporean wealthtech firm iFast Corporation to form Raffles China Family Office and tap into China’s burgeoning onshore UHNW market. The joint venture will initially open its doors in Shanghai, but also has plans to expand to Beijing, Chongqing, and Zhejiang.

MFOs Carret, Lumen to merge 25 Sep – It was a busy year for MFO Carret Private, which in February expanded to Singapore and, at the end of Q3, announced a merger with fellow MFO Lumen Capital Investors. The merger will bring together more than US$2 billion in AUM and reunite Carret managing partner Kenny Lam and Lumen founding partner Wilfried Kofmehl — both former members of Julius Baer’s executive board in Asia.

DBS chooses Allfunds 28 Oct – DBS signed a deal with Allfunds to use the wealthtech’s investment funds and asset servicing offering in Asia and globally. Marc Lansonneur, DBS’s managed solutions head then called Allfunds a “one-stop solution” for its distribution needs and intended for the partnership to result in more convenience, productivity, and efficiency for the Singaporean lender.

Noah’s Canadian subsidiary obtains local IFM licence 26 Sep – Noah Canada Wealth Management was awarded an investment fund management licence in British Columbia and Ontario, adding

EFG launches Dubai advisory office 31 Oct – EFG International broadcasted its plan to open an advisory office in the Dubai International Financial Centre. The new office will be led by Sascha Pietrek, a veteran Middle East banker formerly with Deutsche Bank, and is slated to commence operations in December.

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EFG launches Dubai advisory office

Raffles FO forms China JV with iFast Corporation

N ov e

Noah Canada gets IFM licence

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Raffles FO opens doors in Taiwan

BIL sets up rep office in Beijing

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INDUSTRY

Nippon Wealth picks Canopy for account aggregation

DBS HK debuts fully-online onboarding via iWealth app

L&T sells Dubai subsidiary, fully exits WM business

Avaloq wins Mandiri mandate to run wealth platform

November DBS HK debuts fully-online onboarding 5 Nov – DBS launched a fully-digital onboarding feature in Hong Kong through its iWealth app, laying claim as the first bank in the city to offer such a function for the wealth management segment. “This fully virtual, entirely digital account onboarding is about doing it wherever, whenever you want. It’s about opening a wealth management account in a few minutes,” said Ajay Mathur, DBS Hong Kong’s head of consumer banking and wealth management. Nippon Wealth picks Canopy for account aggregation services 14 Nov – Nippon Wealth, a restricted-licence bank which caters to Japanese expats in Hong Kong, selected Canopy to provide account aggregation and analytics services and will soon launch a new service called MIKI to allow clients to better visualise their portfolios and transaction histories. Mandiri selects Avaloq to streamline wealth platform 19 Nov – Indonesia’s largest lender, Bank Mandiri, selected the Avaloq Banking System to run the US$14 billion of AUM that sit in the bank’s wealth management division. Hery Gunardi, Mandiri’s MD for business and network, praised the core banking system for its “powerful capabilities” and ability to meet the bank’s complex needs. L&T sells Dubai business, exits WM 5 Nov – L&T Financial Services fully exited the wealth management business by selling its Dubai subsidiary to fellow NBFC, InCred. The divestment follows earlier news of IIFL’s purchase of L&T’s India wealth franchise. With the buy, Anshu Jain-backed InCred aims to make inroads into asset and wealth management, advisory and other related services and establish a “Global Indian platform”.

ADS

R E G U L AT I O N S

Key regulatory trends in 2019 Industry pushing for extension of deadline for new product suitability rules The implementation of the SFC’s new suitability rules for intermediaries raised many concerns among private banks, as they would need to implement additional measures to protect investors dealing with complex financial products — such as equity derivatives, leveraged and inverse ETFs, and bonds with special features. Regardless of whether sales are made through offline and online channels (including robo-advisory platforms), private banks would also need to conduct the same client suitability checks. “The regulator seems not to understand what it takes for private banks to comply with these requirements in the offline environment,” a frustrated source told Asian Private Banker in March during negotiations to extend the deadline. “It makes us imagine that the regulator didn’t consider the stake of private banks in this regulation and the possible disruption it may cause.” The SFC postponed the deadline from April to July in reaction to the industry feedback and, thereafter, Hong Kong regulators became more accommodating to industry stakeholders. The securities regulator clarified that intermediaries were allowed to design their own risk disclosure procedures for repeat transactions, provided that they were reasonably satisfied that clients had sufficient understanding of the product, based on previous disclosure made by the intermediary.

Meanwhile, the HKMA suggested that private banks take full advantage of applying suitability by using a more flexible portfolio approach and further relaxed and pushed back the implementation date for new suitability rules in loss-absorption products, despite being criticised for creating further uncertainty for the industry.

Regulators braced for market turmoil With multiple signs suggesting that the global economy was heading into a late cycle, regulators implemented measures that gave the financial industry a shot in the arm. In October, for instance, the HKMA lowered the Countercyclical Capital Buffer ratio from 2.5% to 2%, allowing banks to release an additional HK$200 billion to HK$300 billion of credit, boosting market liquidity. The HKMA reminded the financial industry to stay vigilant of credit risks as its Half-Yearly Monetary & Financial Stability Report showed a 15% half-yearly increase in loans backed by financial assets. The SFC, on the other hand, hinted to fund managers in August that the supervisory focus in 2020 would be on risk-related elements — such as liquidity risk management, the safe custody of fund assets, and the disclosure of leverage by fund managers — and encouraged them to perform “more frequent and enhanced” liquidity stress tests to ensure clients can make redemptions when the price of funds’ underlying assets fluctuate. Norman Chan, chief executive of the HKMA, who stepped down the same month, rounded out his career by the final remarks that the city’s

R E G U L AT I O N S

Stepping into the last month of 2019, the year already seemed too long for many in the region. The implementation of complex product suitability checks in Hong Kong occupied the first seven months of most private banking compliance staff, while the latter part of the year saw preparations for the anticipated economic downturn, not to mention the persistent US-China trade war and Hong Kong protests. Regulators in the region seemed confident that with more prudent risk management measures than a decade ago, they would manage to withstand the coming market volatility, while Chinese authorities continued their market opening with a view to attracting foreign direct investment. Here are some regulatory highlights from the past 12 months.

banking system is more “safe and resilient than any time in history” with his successor Eddie Yue echoing this view with the notion that Hong Kong’s banking system is well-positioned to withstand market shocks with its strong capital positions, ample liquidity, and good asset quality. While regulators were trying their best to ring fence potential market collapse triggers, MAS head Ravi Menon pointed out in a Bloomberg interview that there shouldn’t be "unrealistic expectations" about global central banks saving their economies every time things went south. His view synced with a number of other Central Bank heads calling for a better balance between government spending and monetary stimulus.

Regulatory reform opens China domestic market The opening up of China's domestic financial market through various changes in regulatory requirements will be another trend worth following in 2020. The National People’s Congress promulgated the Foreign Investment Law in March, which aims to boost foreign direct investment at a time of US-China trade tensions by simplifying foreign-related investment processes in a wide range of industries. While restrictions on regulating China’s finance industry remained, Premier Li Keqiang mentioned at the World Economic Forum in July that the central bank was going to lift foreign ownership caps for securities and futures and life insurance firms in 2020 — one year ahead of schedule. This would benefit the international financial institutions

that have established securities JVs in Mainland China — including UBS, Nomura, J.P. Morgan, and Credit Suisse. The People’s Bank of China in September announced 11 new measures and an accompanying timeline to promote and facilitate foreign access to China’s finance industry, which includes encouraging foreign financial institutions to participate and invest in the wealth management subsidiaries of commercial banks. Other measures to open up the market included allowing wholly-owned foreign banks to set up in Mainland China and the removal of QFII and RQFII quotas. Despite private banks and asset managers believing that the lifting of the quotas would have only limited effect on their business, some saw this as an attempt to ascertain to what extent China could bypass Hong Kong as a financial gateway for foreign investments amid ongoing protests in the city. There may have been a shift in attitude of late, though, as the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area announced 16 policy measures in November 2019 to enhance the connectivity among the GBA cities. One initiative is the Greater Bay Area cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect scheme.

ADVERTORIAL

Seeking yield in uncertain markets Seeking yield1 is generally among the top priority for investors. With an uncertain investment outlook, they are increasingly looking at strategies that can invest flexibly across the fixed income universe for potential yield opportunities. But this would require moving along the risk spectrum. And it is important to focus on quality within fixed income, without overstretching for yield1. The JPMorgan Income Strategy strives to be risk-optimised, investing opportunistically across multiple debt markets and sectors with a view to making portfolio income a viable outcome2. Our investment approach centres on our belief that bond portfolios, managed by a globally integrated, research-driven fixed income team within a disciplined risk-controlled framework, would be better positioned for optimising risk-adjusted returns.

Fixed income amid market volatility Our Income Strategy aims to deliver a stable and consistent income through a diversified3 combination of fixed income securities, as the chart shows. The Strategy invests in debt securities that we believe could have high potential to produce income, and have low or negative correlations to each other in order to reduce risk through diversification3. By investing in a broad range of sectors and harvesting risk premiums across fixed income markets globally, we believe the portfolio is better positioned to optimise yield with lower volatility (or risk) than other single-sector or more concentrated strategies.

One of the approaches we take to achieve this is by harvesting uncorrelated, or at times negatively-correlated risk premiums from the global fixed income landscape. Our aim is to harvest the risk premia, and incorporate them together in a balanced way which could help reduce risk while striving to achieve a consistent return. This is a critical outcome of our portfolio construction process, and the results bear real risk reduction through this diversification3. In this Strategy, we have an income bank mechanism to save our monthly coupon income for rainy days, giving us more flexibility to pay income in a sustainable manner4. This mechanism could protect against changes in interest rates, smooth cash flow distributions and facilitate sector rotation in order to manage risk, take profits or capture market opportunities. This could help pave the way for an income stream with much less volatility.

Allocating dynamicallyÂ˛ In our Income Strategy, allocations to corporate high yield5 and securitised assets have been the major performance contributors yearto-date6. These sectors have continued to be positive contributors for the year even as we sold some of our high-yield and emerging market (EM) credit positions for gains. We have been very active in duration management, utilising duration as another form of diversification3. During 2019, duration has traded in a range of 3â&#x20AC;&#x201C;6 years. The Strategy has maintained an active hedge position within US high-yield corporates5 that was initiated following trade escalations in May and June 2019 which contributed due to the modest spread widening.

Source: J.P. Morgan Asset Management. As of 30.09.2019. The Strategy is an actively managed portfolio. Holdings, sector weights, allocations and leverage, as applicable, are subject to change. Provided for information only, not to be construed as investment recommendation. Investment involves risks. Investments are not comparable to deposits. Not all investment ideas are suitable for all investors. MBS: mortgage-backed securities, ABS: asset-backed securities

ADVERTORIAL

Source: Barclays live, J.P. Morgan Asset Management. MBS: mortgage-backed securities, ABS: asset-backed securities, EM: emerging market. For illustrative purposes only. Based on representative index level data, except for esoteric ABS and non-agency MBS which reflect our proprietary yield calculations. US 10-year Treasury, ABS and nonagency MBS are yield to maturity. Investment-grade corporate, EM corporate and US high-yield corporate bonds are yield-to-worst. EM sovereign bonds is a blended yield. As of 30.09.2019. Yield is not guaranteed. Positive yield does not imply positive return. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of current and future results.

As market volatility increases and the global economy moves deeper into the late cycle, we have been reducing risk by trimming both high-yield corporate5 and EM debt exposure and allocating to higher credit quality. We continue to prefer the securitised market given the enhanced yield1 pick-up, short duration, and faster amortising nature of the securities we are able to purchase. The securitised market has largely been unaffected by growing trade tensions compared with other fixed income sectors. The resilience of the US consumer7 supports the yield pickup in MBS, making it one of the asset classes investors could consider in their broader asset allocation, based on their investment objectives and risk appetite. Healthy household balance sheets and low debt-servicing costs have kept mortgage delinquency rates in check.

For now, we believe consumer credit and real estate fundamentals remain somewhat insulated from broader concerns of a possible recession. Still, we are allocating to higher credit quality in our ABS holdings and looking to reduce delinquency risk. Instead of student or auto loans, based on current market conditions we have taken an outof-index exposure for ABS, targeting loans for timeshare financing and equipment tied to mobile and aircraft leases.

Conclusion Market volatility and lower yields are here to stay. Investors could strive to be dynamic2 and invest opportunistically across the fixed income universe based on their investment objectives and risk appetite. But this would require moving along the risk spectrum. It is important to focus on quality within fixed income, without overstretching for yield1.

For more information about J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s capabilities, please contact: Pbd_enquiry@jpmorgan.com

1 Yield is not guaranteed. Positive yield does not imply positive return. ² For illustrative purposes only based on current market conditions, subject to change from time to time. Not all investments are suitable for all investors. Exact allocation of portfolio depends on each individual’s circumstance and market conditions. ³ Diversification does not guarantee investment return and does not eliminate the risk of loss. 4 Dividends are based on Asset Managers discretion and are not guaranteed. 5 High yield credit refers to corporate bonds which are given ratings below investment grade and are deemed to have a higher risk of default. For illustrative purposes only, exact allocation of portfolio depends on each individual’s circumstances and market conditions. Yield is not guaranteed. Positive yield does not imply positive return. 6 Source: J.P. Morgan Asset Management, data as of 30.09.2019. Yield is not guaranteed. Positive yield does not imply positive return. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of current and future results. 7 Source: FactSet, FRB, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Bureau of Economic Analysis. US household debt service ratio was 9.7% for 3Q 2019 versus 13.2% for 4Q 2007. US household net worth for 3Q 2019 was about US$115 trillion versus around US$71 trillion for 3Q 2007. 3Q 2019 figures for debt service ratio and household net worth are J.P. Morgan Asset Management estimates. Data reflect most recently available as of 30.09.2019.

Important Information For Professional Investors and Financial Intermediaries only. This advertisement or publication has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong. Investments in funds are not comparable or similar to deposits. Investment involves risk, value of units may rise or fall including loss of any or all of the amount invested. Not all investment ideas are suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Diversification does not guarantee positive returns or eliminate risk of loss. Investors should make their own evaluation or seek independent advice before investing. The opinions and views expressed here are as of the date of this publication, which are subject to change and are not be taken as or constructed as investment advice. Issued in Singapore by JPMorgan Asset Management (Singapore) Limited (Co. Reg. No. 197601586K) and in Hong Kong by JPMorgan Funds (Asia) Limited. All rights reserved.

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Launched in 2015, the Asian Private Banker Technology Awards recognise financial technology solutions providers that service Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s private banks for excellence in innovation, execution, and business performance. For a list of categories and the submission guidelines, please visit: apb.news/apbta2019

Submissions open 4 November 2019

Submissions close 3 January 2020

Demo Day 9 January 2020 (Hong Kong or via video conference)

Winner announcements 24-25 February 2020

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#APBTA2019 14

TECHNOLOGY

Key technology trends in 2019

t was an exciting time for many private banks going into 2019: market leaders were comfortably settled into their upgraded core banking systems, whilst some laggards had reached the tail-end of their infrastructure upgrades. Then in early 2019, the HKMA began granting virtual bank licenses, while Singapore opened up for licence applications later in the year, nudging incumbent traditional banks to further accelerate their digital offerings. Regardless of where banks were, the industry agreed that the groundwork was laid. In 2019, the main question was: now what? There were banks that continued to develop their digital interfaces whilst maintaining manual middle- and back-office operations. There were those that delved deep into their existing client transaction database to derive analytics and develop future services. Some chose to focus internally on automating their finite manual processes, while others sought to improve information flow to third-party platforms. Asian Private Banker rounds up the five trends that defined technology in the region’s private banking arena in 2019.

Customer lifecycle management From digital onboarding to updating client information (such as passports, residential addresses, contact numbers), banks made steady progress in digitalising processes and making sure that information flows seamlessly from front to back. Deutsche Bank Wealth Management joined the fray of digital onboarding in 2019 when its work with Appway resulted in a significant improvement in client onboarding times and, in November, DBS Hong Kong debuted a fully-online wealth management account opening through its iWealth mobile app. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse Private Banking reengineered certain operational processes — such as the updating of clients’ contact information — and turned towards self-service capabilities for certain client interactions to increase RM efficiency and reduce costs.

Digital advisory and e-trading Private banks continue to push mandate services to clients in a bid to increase recurring revenues and technology was unsurprisingly leveraged for its ability to scale and make the most of the region’s high tech proclivities. In March, DBS Bank introduced digiPortfolio, the lender’s take on robo-advisory portfolio solution that is an effective extension (Continued on next page)

TECHNOLOGY

of its discretionary offering. And in May, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management launched dbXpert, a flat-fee advisory offering positioned as an intermediary step towards discretionary portfolio management. On the trading front too, banks introduced platforms for clients. In March, Credit Suisse rolled out algorithmic trading platform Advanced Execution Services in China. And in November, Julius Baer announced the pilot of a bond trading and execution platform in collaboration with MarketAxess.

Branching out to IAMs Having identified the independent asset management community as a growing and untapped market, private banks vied to develop platforms (and teams) to offer best-in-class intermediary services. The platforms acted as a win-win for both sides as IAMs struggled with operational challenges that could be remedied with the right partner, and banks could benefit from being the go-to custodian bank. In June, Credit Suisse announced that it teamed up with Privé Technologies to develop a tool that allows IAMs to operate without middle- and back-office support and run on a single interface that consolidates the four to six custodian relationships that each IAM typically has. A week after, EFG unveiled plans to launch a similar platform on 1 September with Swiss fintech AM-One, a subsidiary of Expersoft Systems.

Increased personalisation As more and more clients use banks’ digital interfaces, data has become a crucial resource in the mission to create and offer more personalised — or according to some, hyper-personalised — services. To customise content, DBS’s iWealth app compiled research articles based on a client’s portfolio holdings while Credit Suisse, via the CS Invest platform, generated investment ideas based on clients’ preselected interests. UBS also updated its Digital Banking platform in May to allow clients to customise their interfaces and feeds, based on feedback from clients who called out for improved personalisation and curated content.

Targeting the lower-end of wealth As more private banks focused on their ultra high net worth clients, various fintechs emerged in the region to serve a client segment that was growing ever more frustrated with being overlooked by their banking institutions. Kristal.AI, one such fintech, said in June that it had gained traction with its US$1-3 million AUM client base. While in November, online investment platform StashAway launched a cash management portfolio product to capitalise on high cash levels among HNWIs. Digital securitisation platform Xen also found a sweet spot in serving smaller IAMs and family offices — including lower-end HNWIs — with tokenised alternatives, democratising the hard-to-reach asset class for clients that would otherwise not get access through a private bank.

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EVENTS

3rd HIGH CONVICTION: 2020 INVESTMENT IDEAS & THEMES Asian Private Bankerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3rd annual High Conviction event in Singapore brought together the most senior gathering of Asia-based gatekeepers from global and regional private banks in Asia to explore the macroeconomic situation and investment ideas and products strategies for the new year. Special thanks to all our delegates, panellists, and partners for taking part. For full details of the event, please visit: apb.events/hicosg2019.

2019

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Alan Luk head of private banking and trust services Hang Seng Bank

Albert Chiu executive chairman Asia Pacific EFG Bank

Amy Lo co-head WM APAC UBS Global Wealth Management head and chief executive of UBS Hong Kong

Andreas Zingg chief operating officer Asia Bank Julius Baer

Didier von Daeniken global head, private banking and wealth management Standard Chartered Bank

Fong Seng Tee CEO Pictet Wealth Management Asia

Lam Leong Yip chief risk officer Asia Bank Julius Baer

Michael Blake CEO private banking Asia UBP

Monique Chan CEO BMO Private Bank Asia

Omar Shokur CEO Asia & branch manager Singapore Indosuez Wealth Management

Rishabh Saksena head, investment specialists Asia Bank Julius Baer

Siew Meng Tan regional head, Asia Pacific HSBC Private Banking

Sim S Lim group head, wealth management and consumer banking DBS Bank

Steven Lo regional head â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Asia Pacific Citi Private Bank

Terence Chow CEO, Asia RBC Wealth Management

Vincent Chui head of Asia wealth management Morgan Stanley

ITNHDE UFSI T NRAYL W O R D INDUSTRY TRENDS

What is the single biggest challenge and the single biggest growth opportunity for your business today?

Sim S Lim, DBS Bank We’ve invested significantly in digitalising our business and enhancing client experiences, and are proud to have made good progress — take DBS iWealth for example, which was accorded global no. 1 for wealth apps by Cutter Research in 2018. However, the pace of change in the private banking industry remains relentless and we cannot rest on our laurels. In order to stay relevant in an era where the divide between winners and losers is becoming increasingly stark, it is imperative that we adapt to, and stay ahead of, the new world order. We are challenging ourselves to achieve hyper-personalisation, such that we 'bank for one'. This refers to understanding each and every client as an individual, being cognisant of their preferences and providing personalised propositions. It is the ability to anticipate their needs before they do and help address them, such that the bank is seamlessly integrated in their daily lives. This is no easy feat and will take time, but we are committed to the journey. We continue to invest in digital transformation and innovation, and will refine, iterate, and improve our capabilities as we work towards achieving this goal. The single biggest growth opportunity is Asia, a region that is abound with potential. We’re on the cusp of a significant intergenerational wealth transfer, with an estimated US$2.7 trillion slated to change hands in the coming 10 to 20 years. Many of our clients are from the founding generation and as they age, they’re becoming more concerned about handing over the reins to their heirs, as well as preserving the family’s wealth and legacy for future generations. Against this backdrop, we expect to see tremendous interest and opportunity in areas such as trusts, legacy, and governance for the next decade or more. Fong Seng Tee, Pictet Wealth Management Asia In our opinion, the increasing sophistication of clients is the biggest challenge but also the biggest growth opportunity. Clients' profiles have evolved over time, and they are changing what they are asking for in terms of offering and products. With a higher level of sophistication among clients, we see a stronger demand for alternative investments in the region, particularly for private equity and real estate. This is an area where Pictet Wealth Management can bring a different value proposition, with expertise in these asset classes dating back more than 30 years. We have also observed a trend amongst UHNWIs to embed responsibility or ESG more holistically throughout the management of their wealth. On the back of Pictet’s 20 years of expertise in responsible investments — with SRI and environmental strategies launched in the late 90s — we have created a dedicated multi-asset responsible investment offering which combines different approaches available on the market today, spanning ESG integration and active ownership, sustainability themes, and impact investing.

Amy Lo, UBS Global Wealth Management Digital transformation is the biggest challenge and the biggest growth opportunity faced by the industry in the region and globally. The digital revolution is up and running and has the potential to further disrupt business models in almost every sector, including wealth management. Disruptors and incumbents are in nothing short of a technological arms race, which involves the continuous development of hardware and software to transform the world around us. Enabling technologies such as 5G, AI, and cloud computing, supported by the exponential growth in data gathering, are the primary drivers of change. 5G, in particular, will trigger significant innovation because it will offer accelerated connectivity, greater capacity, and more flexibility. The new landscape will generate tremendous opportunities to change how we do business, allowing wealth managers to provide an enhanced client experience. At the same time, the proliferation of tech entrepreneurs will expand the universe of prospective clients and provide momentum to the growth of the business. But the rapid pace of change will also increase client expectations so the industry will need to adapt and remain agile. UBS's digital strategy aims to leverage digital platforms for enhanced client experience and better service. Instead of asking clients to adapt to us, we are seeking to anticipate their needs and then innovate to satisfy them. Steven Lo, Citi Private Bank I see a big shift in the industry in which some might see as a challenge, but we see as a unique opportunity. Clients are increasingly looking for banking relationships that serve a wider range of their needs — to address not only their personal wealth but also their business requirements. In addition, clients are becoming increasingly global in their perspective with regards to their business, investment outlook, family, and lifestyle. Thus, platforms that can offer personal wealth management as well as corporate and institutional capabilities, and are able to connect all these interests seamlessly around the world, are in the best position to serve these “global citizens”. Vincent Chui, Morgan Stanley The single biggest challenge is recruiting and retaining young Mainland Chinese talent to cover the next generation of Mainland Chinese clients. The single biggest growth opportunity is helping clients revisit and, where necessary, restructure their wealth in view of global, regional, and local geopolitical dynamics. Terence Chow, RBC Wealth Management The single biggest challenge facing our business is the cloud of global uncertainty that is hanging over clients’ heads as they make financial decisions amid Brexit, the trade war, and other issues. However, this is also the main opportunity for RBC Wealth Management because we work primarily with Asia’s global families — a

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high net worth client segment which is best characterised as globally-mobile families that tend to have complex financial structures that span Canada, the UK, or the US. RBC’s global footprint matches these markets well, whether it be our Asia operations, our Canadian private bank and advisory business, or our US and UK wealth management operations. Here in Asia, we draw on this global footprint by bolstering our local capabilities, services, and talent while bringing in advisors from Canada, the UK, or the US to help Asia’s global families navigate the numerous financial, political, and social uncertainties that affect their wealth planning across borders and legal jurisdictions. Albert Chiu, EFG Bank We have to be mindful that private banking will not be immune to disruption via fintech. Artificial intelligence is becoming more mainstream and is being adapted to investment processes and operations. As wealth managers, we need to keep up with potential challenges to our existing business models and develop innovative strategies to continue serving our clients well and staying relevant. We will need to invest in better understanding and anticipating our clients’ needs and produce solutions that deliver. In Asia Pacific, we see that the transfer of wealth to the second and third generation is ongoing and rising. We need to continue to stay relevant to the needs of the millennial generation as their approach towards wealth may differ from their parent’s generation. Some millennials may focus on 'doing good' as a core philosophy, so there are opportunities in philanthropy and adopting the 'Principles of Responsible Investing'. Michael Blake, UBP The biggest challenge remains anticipating and responding to client needs in a fast-evolving world amidst global geopolitical and economic uncertainty. This requires agility and conviction. As a business, we need to be light on our feet to help our clients capture new opportunities. We also need to set a strong direction when responding to market trends, regulatory requirements, and tech innovation — to continuously refine our proposition so as to preserve and grow our clients’ wealth. Greater China represents the greatest growth opportunity for us. We are seeing strong demand for bespoke asset management mandates, where private wealth clients benefit from the solutions offered to institutional clients, as well as increasing demand for family office advisory. The non-resident Indian segment, as well as the Singapore, Indonesian, and Thai markets, also provide excellent growth opportunities, so we continue to pursue a targeted panAsia growth strategy, driven by highly customised investment solutions — predominantly for UHNW clients. Didier von Daeniken, Standard Chartered Technology is at the heart of the bank’s strategy and digitalisation is a critical enabler of our business. They continue to be both a challenge and an opportunity for the private bank.

Take for instance our FX derivatives trading platform, which was conceptualised and delivered in 16 weeks. It was built on the premise of our open architecture approach, which gives clients the ability to trade faster and with greater price transparency. It cuts down the time between enquiry and price quotations from 40 minutes to 40 seconds, providing the client a list of price providers whom they can choose to trade with. Yet, the challenge remains in keeping up with the latest technology, and not forgetting the time needed in the development process before it is accessible by clients. Additionally, in our ongoing effort to offer what is best for clients, we must be very cognisant of the associated risks and regulatory obligations in our technology push. Omar Shokur, Indosuez Wealth Management The biggest challenge is keeping up with technological developments and, somewhat related, adapting the way we discuss and promote our products and services to the next generation. As wealth transfer is increasingly gathering pace, we need to ensure we continue to engage with the new generation in a similar personal, trusted, and intimate way. This applies to technological developments as well. In our view it is important that these developments are complimentary to a very personal service and not a replacement of interpersonal contact. In terms of opportunities, Asia remains the world's biggest growth engine when it comes to personal wealth, so clearly capturing part of this growth continues to offer attractive business to the industry at large. Monique Chan, BMO Private Bank Asia One of the key ongoing challenges that many private banks are facing is how to best use and invest in technology and digital solutions to meet compliance requirements and streamline processes, while maintaining a positive and consistent client experience. In terms of growth, with BMO’s 200 year history, we continue to have success working with multigenerational families who want to preserve their wealth and pass on their legacy to future generations. With our collective strength in both Asia and North America, we are well positioned to provide clients with coordinated, multi-jurisdictional advice for wealth planning. Trust and succession planning solutions are provided by our bank-owned trust company in Asia, with our 80-year old trust business in North America providing onshore support and access to a global network of resources. Additionally, as many of our clients are entrepreneurs and business owners with diversified global interests, they see the value in our ability to take an integrated, onebank approach that harnesses the strength of the group in capital markets, corporate banking, and asset management. Siew Meng Tan, HSBC Private Banking As we move into 2020, the wider geopolitical environment continues to be a challenge both for our clients and our business. It is our responsibility and privilege to help our clients navigate ongoing uncertainties. Our biggest opportunity continues to be on supporting the wealth needs of the HSBC group’s client base.

Whilst private banking is traditionally a high-touch and highly personalised space, we all recognise the potential we can and have derived from deploying technology to digitise our processes and offering. As an organisation, Standard Chartered adopted the agile methodology of working a few years ago and, more recently, we have pivoted to the client journey approach which enables us to look at things from the client’s lens and deliver tangible outcomes quickly.

ITNHDE UFSI T NRAYL W O R D BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Productivity and efficiency matter more than ever in this environment. Over the past year, what key steps have you taken to improve both the productivity and efficiency of the business and, to date, what has been the impact?

Vincent Chui, Morgan Stanley Our focus has been to minimise management layers, avoid silos and duplicated work among support functions, and co-opt functional heads into management committees and sales presentations so both front line and infrastructure managers are on the same page. Terence Chow, RBC Wealth Management I couldn’t agree more. Most of the clients that we talk to in Asia are actively looking for productivity and efficiency. They don’t want to talk to separate advisors and relationship managers in each country that they have exposure to. Rather, they want a partner who provides scalable service that can grow alongside their wealth. For example, in Hong Kong and Singapore we work with many families in which parents or grandparents are in Asia while their kids have gone to school, put down roots, and started careers in Canada, the UK, or the US. We want to ensure that these families are able to mobilise their assets in each of these markets, from paying school fees to preparing for generational wealth transfer.

Alan Luk, Hang Seng Bank In this ever-changing and fast-paced operating environment, continuously improving the end-to-end journey for high net worth clients is critical to maintaining customer satisfaction. Our strategy aims to offer the best possible experience from the first point of contact, supported by the use of various client lifecycle management (CLM) tools. We have implemented several CLM initiatives in the past year that have helped make various tasks and necessary procedures easier for our clients and RMs. For example, the new customer onboarding process has been digitalised and we have automated some routine elements of regular operations. Where possible, we are adopting paperless initiatives that not only streamline and speed up various approval and other processes, but also reduce our use of natural resources. These and other digitally driven actions are making the client journey faster and easier, and improve the connectivity, communication, and collaboration among the involved parties. As turnaround times become shorter and the number of processes that need to be completely manually declines, RMs have more time to build deeper relationships with clients and focus on meeting their specific wealth management needs and objectives.

We’ve spent 20 years evolving our business structure to meet the needs of these clients. As a result, our technology, products, and services are all leveraged across markets, allowing us to mobilise our global scale to meet investor needs in a holistic manner. We essentially “passport” clients’ financial management needs in these areas, across national borders and divisions of RBC.

The digitalisation and optimisation of the end-to-end client journey is ongoing, and supports our firm commitment to pioneering a more productive, clientcentric business model.

Michael Blake, UBP We continue to focus our business model on advisory solutions, which is leading to increased recurring revenues. A few years ago, around 70% of accounts were execution only. Today, that number has reversed and some 70% of the bank’s accounts are in advisory or discretionary portfolio mandates.

Albert Chiu, EFG Bank We have been working on the scalability of our expanded business by streamlining our business processes and by adopting technology to further increase and enhance overall operational efficiency. These efforts span across functions and geographies, including both external and internal activities. Several of these actions have already been initiated, improvements are ongoing, and they will continue to benefit our overall operational efficiency.

Our approach has been to focus on advisory mandates and empower our relationship managers with fee structures that make most sense to their clients — from a standard brokerage fee to an all-in fee schedule. The approach has been well received by clients and has led to an increase in recurring revenues, which now comprise around two-thirds of our revenue base. Omar Shokur, Indosuez Wealth Management We have launched a number of initiatives that will help efficiency, reduce timelines, and increase client satisfaction and productivity. Our credit processes and reviews are one example. Other areas that we are working on include client onboarding and customer relationship management.

Monique Chan, BMO Private Bank Asia One of our key initiatives is to simplify and automate processes which will not only improve productivity and efficiency but also enhance the client experience. We have been focusing on further refining our client onboarding process, as well as upgrading our client portal. We continue to streamline our product due diligence process, as well as credit procedures to help improve efficiency. We are developing digital tools to help our relationship managers access key client data more easily so they can provide proactive and customised advice to their clients.

INDUSTRY

Steven Lo, Citi Private Bank Focus is key with regards to promoting productivity and efficiency. We have a strategy where we look at our resources and decide how and where they can be put to the best use. We don’t assume that our resources are infinite and therefore we impose great discipline in the allocation

Fong Seng Tee, Pictet Wealth Management Asia Pictet Wealth Management Asia’s five-year growth plan mainly revolves around the strengthening of specific services dedicated to Asian clients. We are currently growing our headcount to service Pictet Wealth Management’s target markets. A new team of 15 bankers and

and use of them. It has allowed us to focus on key markets, managing them from strategic centres — Hong Kong and Singapore. We are also strict about our target market where we focus on the upper tier of the wealth management spectrum. As a result, we have found that we can serve this particular segment in a more comprehensive manner as we sit in the part of the bank where we can leverage the broader capabilities of the Citi franchise in service of their wider corporate and institutional needs.

investment professionals joined in November to strengthen the coverage of the Greater China region.

Talent is another area where we have taken particular focus in terms of development. We found that going out and paying large packages to people before they have even proven themselves in the organisation is a losing proposition. As our group culture is strong, we have found that hiring within the organisation has been fruitful, eliminating the need to adapt to a new culture, even though an individual is moving from another part of the bank. We have also taken great steps in hiring junior staff and fostering their development through training and rotational assignments. This has shown more positive results for the firm and has provided rewarding career paths for our staff.

With higher levels of sophistication among clients, and a stronger demand for alternative investments in the region, Pictet has extended its existing real estate franchise with the launch of a direct real estate strategy in early 2019. Investing in direct mid-cap property assets in smart and gateway European cities, the strategy has raised EUR 550 million, with client demand outstripping availability at this stage. Asian investors represent more than 25% of the total subscriptions.

Didier von Daeniken, Standard Chartered We started our transformation three years ago, focused on investing in our people, platforms, and processes. In particular, I want to highlight our 'people' agenda. Private banking is ultimately a business driven by our ability to meet client needs and having a culture of excellence that puts the client at the centre helps to differentiate us. We are meticulous in the selection of people we hire and pride ourselves on our outstanding commitment to talent development.

In addition, a new family office team with five experts based in Hong Kong has joined Pictet Wealth Management this year. They will draw on Pictet’s longstanding family office expertise to help wealthy Asian families pass wealth on to the next generation.

2020 will see the launch of a new advisory offer in Asia to be implemented by Q2, encompassing four different mandates with diverse levels of involvement of the client, access to research and to single-asset class specialists. Siew Meng Tan, HSBC Private Banking We’ve made considerable effort in 2019 to streamline unnecessarily complex processes and procedures. We’ve empowered our colleagues at all levels to give their suggestions and challenge the status quo, and we’ve added dedicated resources to improve the experience of our clients and to make HSBC Private Banking a simpler and better place to work at.

For the third consecutive year, our clients have told us that the quality of our bankers continues to be an area of strength, strongly reaffirming our talent development programme. Our private bankers undergo industry-leading programmes via our Private Banking Academy, which was launched in 2017 in partnership with Fitch Learning and INSEAD. Our partnership with Fitch Learning delivers a customised, mandatory programme to build sales skills and product knowledge through a blended approach of classroom and online training. Selected high performers also have the opportunity to attend an executive programme designed by INSEAD to help them adapt to the fast-evolving and increasingly digital future of private banking.

ITNHDE UFSI T NRAYL W O R D INVESTMENTS

What are the key investment themes that your private banking will focus on in 2020?

Steven Lo, Citi Private Bank Asset allocation and risk management remain the drivers of our investment outlook for 2020 following the dispersion of asset class and market performance in 2019 and the impact of short term news flows, which will continue to dominate the investment dialogue. We are closely examining the strong fixed income returns we saw in 2019 and the prospects for the asset class. Many of the strongly performing areas of fixed income are unlikely to see the same sort of returns and the request for yield — both from fixed income and other assets — will continue to dominate many investors’ minds. Within equities, we remain laser focused on valuations, corporate balance sheet strength, earnings growth, and dividend-growing names, as well as the implications of geopolitical tensions. We continue to focus on what we call “unstoppable trends” — the widespread impact of disruption in all major parts of the global economy, which is only just starting to be understood. In addition to the careful utilisation of risk mitigation structures, we continue to have a major focus on low-correlation hedge funds, plus the selective deployment of capital in select illiquid assets such as private equity, private debt, and real estate. Omar Shokur, Indosuez WM First and foremost, we are focused on the integration of ESG in many of our products and services. We will further expand the various discretionary mandates that we have on offer and will continue to broaden our alternatives and private equity offering, an area where we have traditionally been very strong. Thematic investing will firmly remain on our menu, where we continue to provide our clients access to long term trends that offer attractive investment opportunities. Examples are biotech, robotics, ageing population, and education, to name just a few. Furthermore, with global financial markets at all-time highs and presidential elections in the United States coming up, it will be a year that requires close monitoring of events, their potential effects on markets, and, related to this, solid risk management — which we pride ourselves on being one of our key competencies.

Siew Meng Tan, HSBC PB Looking ahead to 2020, our investment strategy positions for a global synchronised slowdown and protracted trade uncertainty, but not for a recession. Therefore we advise our clients to remain invested but stick with a balanced investment strategy with a defensive sector positioning and strong focus on multi-asset and global diversification for risk management. Our high conviction themes for 2020 focus on selective areas of resilience where we can find long-term structural growth opportunities, fundamental quality, and carry opportunities. Positioning for a global slowdown in the year ahead, our top investment themes capture structural growth opportunities from industrial revolution 4.0, Asian consumer, China’s manufacturing upgrade, and the megatrend of sustainable investing. Monique Chan, BMO PB Asia During times of heightened volatility and uncertainty, investors can often lose sight of long term goals and only focus on short term market movements. We always emphasise to our clients the importance of portfolio diversification and asset allocation. We need to be diligent in understanding their investment objectives and risk appetite and how these relate to their overall wealth planning and wealth preservation goals. We expect to see continued interest in alternatives such as private equity, venture capital, and real estate, as clients look for investment opportunities which are less correlated to traditional long-only asset classes. Sectors such as healthcare, clean technology, and AI can provide some interesting opportunities. We are committed to helping clients achieve their sustainability objectives through responsible investing and ESG. BMO is a pioneer in responsible investing, having launched Europe’s first social and environmentally screened portfolio in 1984. We currently have US$4.2 billion in responsible funds.

Michael Blake, UBP Amid a subdued growth outlook for global economies in 2020 and an environment of low (to negative, in some regions) interest rates, the key investment themes will include: i. With a lower anticipated return environment within public markets, clients will look to increase private market exposure. This includes club deals where a number of clients typically come together and make a direct investment in a business, from commercial aviation to real estate assets. These tend to be longer maturity yield plays, less liquid investments, but which complement traditional portfolios. ii. Increased demand for bespoke asset management mandates, where private wealth clients can benefit from the solutions offered to institutional clients. In the last 12 months, we have customised around half a billion dollars of investment solutions for private wealth clients, and we anticipate this momentum to pick up strongly in the coming year. UBP’s organisational set-up, where wealth and asset management work closely, positions us strongly to provide customised “institutional-grade” solutions. iii. A continued focus on investments along environmental, social, and governance standards will be key. As a global trend, sustainably invested assets continue to grow, not only because of increasing investor interest in ESG issues, but because ESG investing also offers client an opportunity to adopt a bespoke investment approach that is tailored to their specific interest and values. Rishabh Saksena, Bank Julius Baer With the global economy expected to pass a cyclical low in 2020, we will be looking at cyclical sectors and value stocks early on in 2020. The US elections will likely create opportunities for dynamic cross-asset class solutions that take advantage of potentially higher volatility. Yield alternatives, in a relatively low interest rate environment, will be in demand

INDUSTRY

and we need to be selective in this area due to the run up in yield assets this year. We will continue our focus on thematic investments that help our clients take exposure to mega-trends of the future such as cybersecurity, digital disruption, etc. Sustainable and impact investment solutions for our clients will continue to be an area of focus. Terence Chow, RBC WM At RBC Wealth Management’s Outlook 2020 events — held in early November in Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore, and Taipei — standing-room-only crowds enthusiastically discussed the growing importance of economic moats and ESG investing amid uncertainty. The idea of investing in companies with strong moats isn’t new but is particularly relevant amid high levels of uncertainty in markets. It’s about looking for companies with strong brands, clearly superior products, or networks that are hard to replicate. These three factors combine to make a company’s margins and market share less vulnerable to external threats. The global uncertainty affecting markets today is unlikely to disappear in the near term, so we expect deep moats to remain a strong theme in 2020. Proactive management of ESG risk is another theme that we expect to grow in importance in 2020. However, this does not suggest a proliferation of ESG product offerings in the coming year; rather, it points to incorporating ESG as a fundamental component of risk management and insulation from downside risk. Sim S Lim, DBS Bank For 2020, we maintain a constructive stance on risk assets. The recent rebound in US Treasury yields connotes higher investor confidence in the economy, which augurs well for the outlook of the S&P 500. On a cross-asset basis, global bonds remain significantly more expensive than equities, which encapsulate better risk-reward. Our Chief Investment Office continues to advocate a barbell investment strategy, which entails

building overweight positions in two areas — stable income-generating assets on one end, and secular growth themes on the other. For the former, we are positive on Singapore REITs, Chinese banks, and Europe energy companies for their high dividend yield. For the latter, we favour winners of the ageing, digitalisation, and sustainability trends, which include thematic sectors such as technology, automation, and millennial consumption. Fong Seng Tee, Pictet Wealth Management Asia 2020 will be a year where identifying segments of superior and sustained growth, in a global deceleration context, will be key. It will be essential to select quality assets that are still mispriced and add layers of tactical approach to navigate the recession seen in industrials while services and consumption remain healthy. Active management delivered strong alpha this year, and further active arbitrages will be important for next year. The US will remain the key market, with growth still above the historical trend and the Fed resuming its easing policy after a pause, but will be at the mercy of an uncertain presidential election. Europe will struggle to exit its sluggish path but the valuation gap with the US and the strong support of the ECB will make positioning in high yielding quality assets worth considering. EM giants will all, with different patterns, regain some ground — China in 1H20, India more towards 2H20, and Brazil along the year. With positive real interest rates and still good growth and cashflow, EM should regain some favour.

watching closely for prospects of fiscal stimulus to drive economic growth, and Asian emerging markets, which remain undervalued compared to the US. The US-China trade war and US elections will continue to drive market sentiment. 2020 should also be a year for diversification, where we will continue to offer a compelling range of managed multi-asset solutions, in order to mitigate risk in any single asset class, as well as alternatives in areas such as real assets, to promote more stable and differentiated returns. Also, if our outlook is right that volatility will increase over the next twelve months, our ability to offer tailored, structured solutions may increasingly come into play. Vincent Chui, Morgan Stanley How to navigate risk and reward in a zero-interest rate and low corporate earnings growth environment.

Albert Chiu, EFG Bank A new year brings with it fresh perspectives and opportunities for our clients. We will continue to build a product shelf which is competitive, relevant, and compliant, and best serves clients' myriad needs and interests. 2019 has been benign for investors, meaning that risks may become more apparent in 2020. We continue to see a case for equities over bonds, and the potential to broaden equity exposure from the US and growth equities, to other investment styles and regions. This includes Europe, where we are

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THE FIN I NAD L UWSO TRD Y R E G U L AT I O N S

How has your private bank responded to regulators' increased emphasis on building proper banking culture?

Albert Chiu, EFG Bank For corporate values to be effective and to serve as guiding principles for employees, they need to be aligned to the company’s overall mission, vision, and value proposition. At EFG, we have a clearly defined vision: “We want to be a leading Swiss private bank that is renowned for its unique client approach”. This approach is translated in our client relationship officers’ strong focus on clients. In brief, our corporate values create a basis to improve conduct at work and help us safeguard our reputation vis-à-vis all our stakeholders. The bank's strategic direction is defined with the close cooperation of the executive committee, global business committee, and board of directors, and the board is very involved in our cultural programmes, contributing heavily to the formulation and definition of our corporate values. Having a healthy, compliant, and risk-aware corporate culture ranks highly on EFG's agenda and is implemented through several group-wide projects. Vincent Chui, Morgan Stanley Set the tone from the top, repeat the message relentlessly, highlight great culture examples, and track and monitor each individual’s culture and risk scores. Fong Seng Tee, Pictet WM Asia These are interesting times for the private banking industry. On the one hand, clients are wanting ever more, including services that deliver the latest in innovation. On the other, regulators are pushing for greater compliance and rules around transparency. Those who can reinvent themselves and play by the new rules will be able to spearhead the consolidation process. Indeed, we believe there is no need for regulations if bankers and other financial stakeholders do the “right thing” for the industry and for their clients. However, in an eagerness to constantly increase business, there are outliers who feel the need to break the rules. To respond to clients’ and regulators’ demands, Pictet WM Asia is implementing a global five-year growth plan to cover market strategies, products, and strengthening of services as well as back office operations and compliance.

Monique Chan, BMO PB Asia BMO has always placed the highest of priorities on cultivating and sustaining a robust culture which supports prudent risk management and is shaped by values such as integrity and responsibility. The capital strength and financial stability of BMO is largely attributable to this strong culture which underpins everything we do. In this regard, we continue to enhance our compliance and governance framework, promote best practices, and implement a remuneration structure with a multi-level, multi-criteria assessment and approval mechanism across the bank and in line with regulator’s expectations. We believe that instilling the right culture and values amongst management and staff, and putting clients’ interests at the forefront, will lead to positive client experiences and high ethical standards in the industry.

diversity and fostering inclusiveness help us not just with financial performance but also with the conduct of our teams and in building a culture of excellence.

Omar Shokur, Indosuez WM There have been a number of initiatives and developments with regards to banking culture. We have a dedicated culture reform committee that meets on a periodic basis and a specific client feedback mechanism that links staff remuneration and rewards to culture (either positive of negative). Moreover, proper banking culture features as a fixed agenda item on our management team meetings.

Steven Lo, Citi Private Bank Citi houses a culture in which it is everyone’s responsibility to exercise good judgement and have accountability. This is at the heart of the company's values. These are vital to our reputation because without a good reputation, you are of no value to anyone. That is why there is no room for compromise when it comes to ethical behaviour. We expect that from our staff, the vendors we work with, and the clients we deal with. Our continuous training is a constant reminder about the importance of proper behavior as well as its consideration in all our employees’ scorecards.

Didier von Daeniken, StanChart Conduct and culture is a critical component of how we manage the private bank. We focus on the outcome for our clients who are at the centre of everything we do. While we have a robust control infrastructure for managing conduct risk and building a strong culture, what is equally important is that everyone in the team understands what is expected of them. To this end, we set the right “tone from above” by equipping every manager so they can have effective conduct and culture conversations with their teams. Additionally, we align and assess our teams’ nonfinancial performance against the bank’s valued behaviours and our conduct indicators. We continue to listen and respond to regulators and meet with them regularly to share our progress in this important area. We recognise that having

Lam Leong Yip, Bank Julius Baer Bank Julius Baer has implemented a comprehensive risk culture framework, and the message starts from the very top from our CEO and the executive board, all the way down to all employees across the bank. We have our code of ethics and business conduct and expect our employees to exhibit ethical behaviour in accordance with the values of the bank, which include care, passion, and excellence. In addition, all employees’ performance evaluation and compensation process are aligned with the bank’s values through the incorporation of risk-related behaviour and key risk indicators in our HR processes.

Terence Chow, RBC WM There is no doubt that we operate in a market that is subject to increasing regulation, and that all private banks need to pay attention to regulatory requirements. RBC WM is no different. Doing what’s right for our client is at the centre of everything we do, and guides how we operate. Siew Meng Tan, HSBC PB Having the right culture in place to facilitate the right kind of behaviours and great client outcomes is the absolute bedrock of our success. No business growth is worthwhile if it is not delivered in a safe and sustainable way. 27

ITNHDE UFSI T NRAYL W O R D TECHNOLOGY

If we can agree that effective private banking relies on banks having a deep understanding of client needs and behaviours, how are you leveraging tech and data to deepen this understanding?

Sim S Lim, DBS Bank Data’s true value lies in its potential to become actionable intelligence, and that’s where technology comes into play. Through the likes of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are able to convert data into information, then knowledge and, ultimately, wisdom. DBS Private Bank strongly values client relationships, and having a good understanding of our clients’ wants, needs, and interests has always been fundamental to us. Data and technology hold the potential to push us further up the curve — when effectively harnessed, they can provide us with a more informed understanding of our clients, enabling us to provide the right client with the right insights, the right solutions and the right proposal, all at the right time. Andreas Zingg, Bank Julius Baer Client behaviour is changing rapidly in today’s world where mobile devices and technological advances are playing an increasingly important role in our daily lives. Clients today expect products and services to be fully tailored to their needs, and anything irrelevant and complicated is perceived as an impairment of the customer experience. We are continuously deepening our understanding of clients (360-degree view of the customer across touchpoints) through the adoption of big data and analytics to deliver personalised, proactive, and prescriptive interaction. We envisage using our digital channels as an option to receive client feedback, keeping in mind that clients tend to avoid providing direct feedback to their personal advisors. Client feedback represents a wide array of client opinions, objectives, and expectations, which can be converted into actionable items and new or enhanced products and services.

banking platform facilitates online trading and monitoring which provides clients with unprecedented autonomy, security, and choice. We plan to continue to make significant investments in technology in the region in cooperation with internal and external partners to create better client experience. Siew Meng Tan, HSBC Private Banking We have long held the importance of having quality relationship managers and client teams who are supported by cutting edge technology, to help them spend more time with clients and deliver better advice. For instance, we’re investing significantly in portfolio analysis with our strategic partnership with Blackrock Aladdin. This will enhance analytics on our clients’ portfolios, with the ability to get enhanced alerts and notifications. At the same time, our investments in artificial intelligence and machine learning tools will allow us further deepen our understanding of client preferences and behavioural patterns. This is how we are using digital to drive a differentiated client experience – each client a unique segment, built around our robust RM/IC support model, to benefit our clients every day. Monique Chan, BMO Private Bank Asia Today’s technology makes it much easier to consolidate and analyse data which can help us gain a more comprehensive understanding of our clients’ requirements and behaviours. We are leveraging this technology to enable our relationship managers to provide tailored investment advice backed by data on clients’ product preferences, risk profile, and suitability. While these digital tools can add value by providing useful analysis and insights, personal interaction remains the most important way to develop relationships with clients, earn their trust, and gain a complete understanding of their investment objectives and wealth management needs.

Moving beyond traditional personalisation techniques through advanced technologies such as machine learning, our aim is to provide clients with a “hyper-personalised” experience via desired channels and at a time that is most convenient for them. To enable this, we are meaningfully investing in technology to create digital products, services and tools to equip our advisors so they can be the most ‘pure and pioneering wealth managers’.

Terence Chow, RBC Wealth Management While technology is a given when delivering financial services — any bank can install state-of-the-art technology or outsource to a cloud-based utility provider — we find that we have the most success when we pair technology and analytics with deep understanding of client needs.

Amy Lo, UBS Global Wealth Management There has been an inexorable and growing demand from both clients and advisors for an effective and compliant instant messaging platform. After months of close cooperation with the regulators, UBS became one of the first wealth managers to offer clients an official communication channel on both WeChat and WhatsApp. Feedback to the initiative has been universally positive suggesting that our efforts to combine user-friendly and secured technology with a 'human touch' have been successful. The solution archives the conversations, which supports our commitment to operating best-in-class risk management.

Globally, RBC has market-leading and award-winning data analytics, but our ultimate goal is to be a digitally enabled relationship bank. This means pairing digital insights with intimate knowledge of clients’ needs garnered through deep research and one-on-one consultation. This is what enables our relationship managers to know that a client’s children are in school in Canada or that they are buying a home or setting up a business in the UK or the US.

Data analytics will be the critical path to enable us to better understand our clients and anticipate their needs. At the same time, our enhanced digital 28

Steven Lo, Citi Private Bank Technology plays an important role in providing clients with timely access to information and analysis. It is also an efficient means of communication. However it will not replace the value that a live face-to-face conversation can have especially when dealing with more complex issues and situations, which is more often the case for our client

T H E F I NI N AD L UWSOT R RD Y BUZZWORDS

base. There is no doubt that machine learning could assist with some of this analysis but it cannot replace the subtle cues and inferences that accompany a live meeting. However, we do appreciate that the next generation is more comfortable leveraging the use of technology and we are looking at ways to weave that in with the “personal touch” that still has value — even for them. We understand that having technology for the sake of it does not make sense. So our development focuses on the technologies that enhance client experience. It must be easy to use and navigate and has to add value for the client. Fong Seng Tee, Pictet Wealth Management Asia In our view, technology will enable us to focus more on providing clients with value added services, freeing up time by streamlining administrative tasks. New technologies will increase the capacity to deliver the banks’ knowledge and intellectual property to clients in an efficient, tailored, and easy-to-understand manner. This enables them to better appreciate the solutions bankers bring to the table and allows for more informed and effective discussions. Pictet Wealth Management’s digital offer revolves around two solutions: a webbased platform with a 20-year track record, used for all banking and reporting needs, and an app — built 3 years ago — which includes reporting, messaging, research, and client validations. We are now in the process of rolling out a third solution covering the specific needs of advisory clients. While we believe new technologies will make our bankers more effective, precise, and targeted in the way they work, we ultimately don’t believe technologies will ever replace them. Wealth management is highly personal, and it takes extensive discussion and interaction, person-to-person, to develop the relationship and nuanced understanding necessary to tailor solutions to each client's or family’s specific needs. Albert Chiu, EFG Bank As part of our overall digital strategy, we have been working on enhancing our existing services and solutions to improve the speed and quality of client interaction. Earlier in June, we launched our EFG Mobile Banking app to offer our clients secure, easy, and on-the-go access to their finances and overall financial portfolios. This progressive implementation allows our clients to easily monitor their portfolios and assets through updates, access further information, and view all executed cash transactions. Within this technology, there is also the EFG Chat app, which provides clients a safe and secured channel to communicate with their client relationship officers. In addition, we are adopting automation and data analytics to enable our client relationship management teams to carry out more timely and efficient portfolio reviews and generate bespoke investment proposals. Omar Shokur, Indosuez Wealth Management Our core (and in-house) banking system, S2i, is undergoing major improvements in order to make it future-proof and interfaceable with best-in-class, third party fintech solutions. The unit managing the development of our core banking system has been rebranded AZQORE and CapGemini has taken a 20% stake in this venture in order to further accelerate the functional and technological development of the proprietary S2i platform. Our aim is to attract more wealth managers to the S2i solution and to expand capabilities, such as data mining and discovering patterns in data, to help us serve our clients better.

What word best describes or captures 2019 in terms of Asian private banking?

UNCERTAINTY

MARKET UNCERTAINTIES

ADAPATABILITY

CHALLENGING

SUSTAINABILITY TRADE WAR

PROXIMITY DISRUPTION RESILIENT

DIGITALISATION UNCERTAINTY

IS THE NEW NORMAL

DIVERSIFICATION

What will be 2020's buzzword?

PRIVATE MARKETS

COSTS MATTER ANTICIPATION

UNCERTAINTY

BE THE BEST

SUSTAINABLE RETURNS

OPPORTUNITIES YIELD HUNT

BIFURCATION

CHARGE TRADE DÉTENTE AHEAD

ALWAYS OPPORTUNITY

DEGLOBALISATION 29

EVENTS

2nd CHINA GLOBAL WEALTH LEADERS SUMMIT 2019 中国全球财富领袖论坛 Asian Private Banker held its 2nd annual China Global Wealth Summit in Shanghai at the end of October to host over 320 delegates from the Chinese private banking and wealth management community. Special thanks to Zhao Hai, Secretary General of the Shanghai Banking Association, and Joseph HL Chan, Hong Kong’s Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, for delivering the morning’s keynote addresses. And, of course, thank you to all our attendees, panellists, and partners for the continued support. For more details on the event, please visit: apb.events/cgs2019.

EVENTS

AWARDS

Submissions open

18 November 2019 2019 11 18

Submissions close

24 January 2020 2020 1 24

Winner announcements Awards ceremony

16-18 March 2020 2020 3 16-18 23 April 2020 2020 4 23

CONTACT : awards@asianprivatebanker.com | +852 2529 4178

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