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| Standard Chartered reenters wealth management market |
| News Archive - Industry Headline - September news | |
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(ShanghaiDaily, Sept 29, 2006) STANDARD Chartered Plc is re-entering the market for managing the wealth of Asia's richest people, a business it exited a decade ago, to boost revenue at its consumer banking unit, Bloomberg News reported. The bank, which makes two-thirds of its profit in Asia, plans to hire as many as 300 private bankers in the next two years, and 10,000 people worldwide over three years to meet demand, said Mike DeNoma, executive director and head of consumer banking. "The last few years have been really go-go years, they have missed out on that, but it's never too late to get into the business," said Roman Scott, a Singapore-based partner at Boston Consulting Group Inc. "It's whether they can be successful and Standard Chartered is big enough to do so." Credit Suisse Group, UBS AG, Citigroup Inc and other banks are expanding operations to grab a bigger slice of the US$7.6 trillion of private riches in the Asia-Pacific region. Revenue at Societe Generale AG's regional private-banking unit jumped by 50 percent in the first half of this year, while assets under management at Credit Suisse Group's grew 43 percent in 2005. "The new thing that will fuel a new peak in Asia is China and India and that's the future for private banking," said Scott of Boston Consulting. The number of millionaires in China, the world's most-populous nation, increased by 6.8 percent last year to 320,000 from 2004, according to a report by Capgemini SA and Merrill Lynch & Co in June. In India, that number increased by 19.3 percent to 83,000 in 2005, from 2004, the report said. The wealth of individuals with at least US$1 million of assets in Asia will rise by an average of 6.7 percent annually in the next four years to US$10.6 trillion, Capgemini and Merrill said. DeNoma said private banking is a "fundamental plank" of the bank's services as demographics in the region change. He said the bank would make "a major push next year." Even though Standard Chartered is "relatively late coming in," the bank has managed the wealth of generations of clients over its 153-year history, DeNoma said. Chief Executive Meryvn Davis said the lender will focus on China, India, the Middle East, Korea and Pakistan. Standard Chartered sold its private banking unit in 1996 to Swiss Bank Corp, subsequently acquired by UBS. The jump in revenue for Societe Generale's private-banking unit in the first half of 2006 from a year ago was helped by "new growth drivers like Japan and India," said Daniel Truchi, chief executive officer. Societe Generale's assets under management in the region have risen 25 percent a year and will increase by a third, from US$15 billion, in 12 to 18 months, he said. Assets under management at UBS AG's Asia-Pacific private banking unit rose to 124 billion Swiss francs (US$99.9 billion) as of March, from 114 billion francs in December, Kathryn Shih, head of wealth management in the region at the world's biggest money manager said. source:ShanghaiDaily |
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