Preservation of wealth

The world has become a more complex place for the private banking industry since the global financial crisis of 2007-08.

For more than 30 years of economic growth, it was relatively easy for even the most casual of investors to benefit from booming global equity markets. But times have changed and the task of both generating and maintaining wealth has become trickier.

'The reality of 2008 is that we are moving towards a more strategic portfolio management mindset that looks at the mid-to-long-term,' says Roger Bacon, managing director and head of managed investments Asia-Pacific at Citi Private Bank in Hong Kong.

There are, of course, still plenty of opportunities in the industry for growth - particularly in Asia - but there are challenges as well.

This certainly applies to Hong Kong, which alongside perennial rival Singapore, is the region's premier private banking centre. The name of the game is not just generating wealth, but also preserving it in an interlinked global financial system that is as much about risk as returns.

'We have to transform from asset gatherers to asset managers', says Alexander Kobler, regional head of investment products and services Asia Pacific at UBS. 'You really have to deliver performance and grow the wealth for the clients'. The commission fee or transaction model traditionally favoured by the city's high-wealth individuals (those with more than US$1 million in investable assets, not including their businesses or property) is unlikely to disappear, but its influence is on the wane.