Vontobel's Chief Executive in Asia for private banking tells finews.asia what the Swiss bank's growth targets are, why he isn't hidebound to recruiting, and why lavish offices don't always wash with the super-rich.

Hong Kong native Alex Fung isn't your typical private banker in Asia: he has moved jobs only twice in his 33-year career in banking which began as a bond trader for CIBC, one of Canada's big five banks.

Fung was poached by Swiss bank Vontobel three years ago from Société Générale, shortly before the French bank sold its Asian wealth arm to Singapore's DBS.

For one of Asia's most respected wealth management executives, Fung is curiously devoid of the airs that typically accompany someone of his rank and professional stature: he doesn't have his own office, instead sharing a desk with his team in a large, square room in a business district skyscraper, for example. He does have a «special chair» though, he says with an laugh.

Banker vs Family GP

Fung spent 14 years in all with CIBC, which send him to London, then back to Asia via Japan. He spend the next 17 with SocGen as the European firm's private banker in Hong Kong – bucking the trend in recent years to move around quickly.

Wealthy clients in Asia are growing weary of simply trading and racking up transactions, according to Fung, and are increasingly receptive to an objective, advice-based private bank. He laments that his industry hasn't yet earned the status that family doctors enjoy, saying there is still too little differentiating private bankers for clients.

«This is what we are seeking to achieve at Vontobel,» Fung says. The Canada-educated banker said down with finews.asia and finews.asia-TV (click here to view) in Zurich to discuss Vontobel's asset goals and how he plans to take on the likes of UBS and other private banking heavyweights in the region.

Alex Fung, you moved from a major international bank to Vontobel three years ago. What’s happened since then?

It’s a breath of fresh air. I think clients welcome the change away from pushing products and transactions towards to a true advisory model for wealth management. This is what we’ve been focusing on and been quite successful in the three years since I joined.

Vontobel has chosen a light approach for its private bank in Asia, without a booking platform. Why?
It’s very costly to have a big platform to do business in Asia. That’s why I’m convinced the Vontobel niche approach is the sensible one. If you’re big, you have huge overhead costs and ultimately you simply have to write tickets. Put in those shoes, I would too – you just have to do transactions as a businessman, nothing more and nothing less.

So you’re not interested in making money from your clients?
Of course we don’t do it for charity, but you don’t start off with the aim of selling a product to earn a specific spread and commission. The client needs to be happy he or she is going with the right investment strategy. We’re old-school: after you go through the lengthy advisory process, we will do a transaction and we will make our money.

Vontobel isn’t a household name like SocGen or UBS.
We don’t sell ourselves short just because we aren’t well-known yet, that people wouldn’t bank with us or trust us. I think Asian clients have gone beyond that now. At the end of the day, clients are sophisticated and educated enough to recognize a good name when they see one.

What is your target for managed assets in Asia?
We want to double our size by 2020. We have met our targets year after year and are definitely on the right track. Vontobel as a whole is growing and we’re part of that. When I joined in 2014, the private bank managed 33.4 billion Swiss francs, now we are at 40 billion. Asia is very much part of that growth.

More from finews.asia's exclusive interview with Vontobel's Alex Fung to follow in coming days

Alex Fung has been Vontobel's Chief Executive for private banking in Asia-Pacific since 2014. Prior to joining the Swiss bank, he was the chairman of Société Générale's Asia activities and Chief Executive in Hong Kong. He began his career with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, or CIBC, as a bond trader in London before eventually moving into wealth management in Asia for the Toronto-based lender. Fung is based in Hong Kong.