China Merchants Bank is launching a new private banking center in Singapore. It's part of a plan to follow the growing flow of Chinese wealth into international markets.
In an interview with «Bloomberg Television» China Merchants Bank (CMB) Vice President Liu Jianjun spoke of his ambition to make his bank the largest private bank in Asia.
Currently that crown belongs to Switzerland's UBS, however the bullish Liu believes his bank will soon break into the top ten largest private banks in the world thanks to the rapid growth of China's domestic wealth.
Liu stated that his bank currently manages $232 billion onshore in China with around fifty nine thousand wealthy clients. He expects to see growth of the Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) clients in China to remain robust this year.
Building Offshore Conduits
Liu intends through establishing CMB in offshore financial hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong, to be the first choice for his clients as they continue to invest outside of China.
At the core of CMB's strategy to fight the likes of established wealth giants such as Credit Suisse and Citi, Liu sees his clients loyalty and familiarity of dealing with a Chinese based bank as key strengths.
Liu also wants to leverage on the use of fintech to cater to his growing bulk of mass affluent clients - China is already the leading financial technology market.
