The Singaporean bank has been operating in Thailand for 20 years via its wholly-owned subsidiary, DBS Vickers Securities (Thailand). The securities firm already offers its clients onshore wealth management offerings, which include funds, equities, structured notes and bonds.
The firm has now partnered with DBS Private Bank in Singapore to expand its onshore services with global offerings, according to a statement from the firm. These offerings will include access to offshore investment products, as well as succession planning and philanthropy advisory services, according to the firm’s website.
With the partnership, DBS Vickers aims to double its wealth assets under management (AUM) to S$8bn ($5.82bn) by 2023. To achieve that goal, the firm also plans to double its headcount for wealth relationship managers to 70 during the same period, according to a Singapore-based spokeswoman for DBS.
The firm said that the partnership enables DBS Vickers to have a one-stop proposition to manage both onshore and offshore services in one place. It explained that existing market practices require investors to go through separate entities for their investment needs – one for onshore and another for offshore.
“HNWIs in Thailand are relatively conservative with offshore investments, but this is beginning to change. As their personal wealth grows, we’re seeing corresponding demand for holistic wealth management services and global investment strategies,” Pattera Dilokrungthirapop, DBS Vickers’ CEO, said in the statement.
Growing market
Thailand’s high net worth segment is becoming an attractive market for private banks. According to DBS, Thailand has at least 122,000 HNWIs, which is almost equal to the number of HNWIs in Singapore.
It is also expected that HNW wealth will grow at a five-year CAGR of 9.9% to $401.2bn by 2020, according to a recent SCB Julius Baer report.
Besides DBS, other wealth managers have already made a move to tap Thailand’s wealthy to offer offshore services.
In February this year, international private banking and asset management group LGT established a subsidiary in Thailand, LGT Securities (Thailand), to offer wealth and management services to HNWIs and corporations in the country.
In April last year, Julius Baer and Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank established a strategic joint venture, SCB Julius Baer, that will focus on the growing Thai private banking market, according to a statement at the time.
In 2016, Credit Suisse set up its wealth management team in Thailand through its securities entity, Credit Suisse Securities (Thailand).
Lombard Odier established a partnership with Bangkok-based Kasikornbank in 2014, in which it manages global investment funds on behalf of Kasikornbank’s private clients.
