For the first time, DBS showcases its private wealth management business in Zurich at a finews event by underlining the advantages of the city-state's financial hub, home to the family offices of Ray Dalio and James Dyson.

The three-letter acronym is familiar to banking insiders the world over, even though its former name, the Development Bank of Singapore, has somewhat fallen into disuse after being laid to rest in 2003. 

The institution, first incorporated in 1968 in the early days of the city-state, can actually look back on a 140-year tradition through its POSB subsidiary. Still, it has grown to employ 40,000 staff while holding an enviable AA- rating with its $554 billion in total balance sheet assets. In 2023, it recorded a net profit of $7.7 billion.

Institutional Insiders

For years, it has been a recognized name in the institutional business and sustained cooperations with major Swiss houses such as UBS, the former Credit Suisse, and Swiss Re. 

But, with roughly $230 billion in assets under management, it doesn't have quite the same global heft in private banking, at least not yet. 

Special Finews Event

In an exclusive event held by finews, bank executives presented their palette of high-net-worth wealth management services, particularly in the family office space, to 80 representatives of the Swiss finance industry.

Paul Taurignan, who heads DBS's business with private banking clients based in the West, emphasized at the start of the event that the institution is currently experiencing high growth with clients who are not traditionally based in its longstanding markets of Southeast and North Asia. 

Growth Ambitions

By that, he was referring to clients in India and Europe. «We want to grow in Switzerland, Monaco, and the UK», the French private banker said while setting the tone for the evening.

Chief economist Taimur Baig then went on to discuss the geopolitical positioning of the city-state, saying it was an important element in Singapore's attraction as a haven for cross-border private banking.

Trade Conflict as Opportunity

«The trade conflict between the West and China», he maintained, will keep the world preoccupied for at least a generation. But that opens up opportunities for countries located in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore.

According to Baig, many countries in Southeast Asia are equally conversant in the languages of the West and that of the mainland. 

Strengthened ASEAN

As an example of that, he mentioned the 2022 free trade agreement between the ten countries of the ASEAN (including Singapore) with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

Given Western tariffs on trade, particularly American ones on Chinese goods, a good deal of industrial production on the mainland is moving to countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, which already have long-term free trade agreements with the US and the EU. 

Renminbi Hub

Singapore is in a position to source semi-finished goods from China, complete final assembly, and re-export them to the West free of customs duties, so long as the Chinese value-added component is less than 40 percent.

Baig underlined the importance of Singapore and DBS when it came to converting China's renminbi into other fully convertible currencies. The increased use of the dollar as a weapon in the Russian sanctions toolbox regime has led to global diversification away from the North American currency and raised the demand for renminbi, something that Singapore profits from.

China's Trump Cards

The DBS economist was also not pessimistic about the mainland, even though political rigidity and the crisis in the real estate and financial sectors did need to be taken seriously. According to him, China would tackle the problems in its own way. «The country simply can't afford to leave the problems unresolved».

At the same time, Beijing was investing more in climate-friendly technologies than the US and EU combined. It is a leader in quantum physics, biotechnology, and renewable technologies. «A large number of innovations in those areas today is Made in China».

Asian Growth

But the bank's chief economist had one key message. Southeast Asia is a great place for Western investors to participate in the regional growth story, including China's.

Aida Soon, the deputy group head of wealth planning DBS Private Bank's family office and insurance solutions, then laid out a concrete road map as to how to make that happen in wealth management. 

Prominent Names

At the beginning of her presentation, she name-dropped a few of the more prominent names in the West that have chosen Singapore as a place for their family office activities.

They include Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, South African billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer, and  British inventor Sir James Dyson, best known for his bagless vacuum cleaner, line of air purifiers, and bladeless fans.

Booming Family Office Scene

The number of family offices in Singapore has grown from 400 in 2020 to more than 1,100 in 2022. According to Soon, DBS has a business relationship with more than one-third of all single family offices in the city-state.

She then went on to praise the regulatory and tax advantages for single and multi-family offices in Singapore.

Single Point of Contact

According to her, these are baked into DBS's universal banking services spanning the wealth management, institutional, corporate, and investment banking areas, including fiduciary services, even extending into the digital asset arena.

The hub and focus of all activity, however, is a single point of contact – a so-called dedicated group relationship manager.

Wittmann Bullish About Southeast Asia

The climax of the event was a podium conversation moderated by finews publisher Claude Baumann together with Paul Taurignan, Taimur Baig, Aida Soon, and Swiss financier Beat Wittmann, who looks back on four decades of experience in Asia.

Wittmann was clearly more skeptical about China than Taimur Baig but he remains bullish about Southeast Asia. According to him, the progress banking has made in Singapore is remarkable.

Political Stability

Wittmann pointed out the unique position the city-state found itself in, with its political stability being something that differentiates it from competing hubs. 

Hong Kong is drawing increasingly closer to China and the openness of the booming financial centers in the Middle East to Western institutions remains highly dependent on the whims of individual rulers.

Taimur Baig also emphasized Singapore's extensive framework of institutional values.

Confident Position

As a French citizen, Taurignan indicated he had a great deal of empathy for Western clients looking for international diversification. Singapore offered them a safe haven and a front-row seat to developments in Asia, one that had both an affinity with Western values as well as providing unique investment opportunities in a Southeast Asian context.

All in all, it was a fitting end to an event that saw DBS confidently position itself on the starting blocks in Zurich for the first time.