The number of wealthy individuals grows at a high rate of 13-14% a year in Thailand, according to Laliphat Toranavikrai, the Thai bank’s executive vice president for its private banking relationship management division of wealth management operations.
The bank has to strengthen its human resources to address the changing client landscape, she said in a statement.
Currently, the bank has 100 relationship managers.
The needs of high-net-worth individuals nowadays are changing because there are younger wealthy people, especially young entrepreneurs, and the bank’s financial advisers have to know how to deal with this new demographic, she said.
In the past, relationship managers focused on trust. But today, enhancing the relationship with clients is essential and the bank must know how to deal with this global trend.
According to Siam bank’s “Wealth Academy”, wealthy customers are classified under two categories. An “SCB First” customer is one with assets under management of 10m-30m Thai baht ($280,000 – $850,000), while those qualifying for SCB Private Banking have assets under management of over 30m baht.
The bank now serves 7,000 SCB Private Banking families and 30,000 SCB First members, covering 800bn of assets under management.
Mee-har Foo, CEO of Wealth Management Institute, said the structure of their partnership is that Siam Commercial Bank could expand their wealth management business via training its staff, and the bank could receive continuous access to international practices and developments in private banking from the insitute.
“Private banking and wealth management will continue to be a key pillar of growth for many countries in the region, including Thailand. This industry is built on the foundation of talented human capital,” Foo said.
