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SCMP Reporter

Acquisition of the Chase Trust Bank Japan in June last year was a milestone in the region's operations for SG Private Banking, Asia Pacific.

'We developed private banking in Japan from that platform,' says chief executive officer Daniel Truchi, who heads the bank's private banking and trust operation for Asia Pacific, including the Japanese market.

In Japan, SG offers a one-stop private banking service to customers who previously might have had to seek service with several different institutions or departments.

Mr Truchi says private banking is one of SG's chief business lines, along with asset management and investment banking.

'The growth of our private banking business has been pretty strong in these past years. We are now within the top 10 main competitors in terms of size in Asia.'

Mr Truchi says customers are demanding access to a full range of services, with security and safety of investment being their chief concerns.

'It has become a very wide business within the bank that requires a lot of background, foundation, and expertise.

'Overall, the private banking market has become more and more competitive, more and more sceptical, I would say. It has shifted from a pure relationship-driven business toward a more innovative and sophisticated range of products that the banks, especially the global banks, are offering. The relationship is still key to this business, but it is no longer the only key.'

He says there has been a discernible shift to quality by private banking customers since the Asian financial crisis.

'Investors are focusing on the relationship, and also on the quality of the bank.'

As a double-A rated bank, SG is widely regarded as a safe haven.

With offices worldwide, SG can cater to Asian families' far-flung business and personal financial needs.

'To be successful in Asian private banking, you need a very large network in various parts of the world to provide services wherever clients go. You also need the ability to offer innovative products that deliver performance, capital guarantee, and low volatility,' Mr Truchi says.

'All wealthy individuals in Asia have some property in the West, whether it is the US, Europe, London or Paris. Their children attend university in Europe or the US. There are a lot of services you can provide as a bank with a large international network.'

Services in the structuring of trusts and the financial engineering of sophisticated products are also in strong demand in Asia, Mr Truchi says.

'More and more, with all the geopolitical issues these days, investors are concerned about wealth transmission, the protection of wealth, and confidentiality.

'This is a worldwide phenomenon, but it is particularly true in Asia.'

He says the demand for trust services has increased tremendously as weak equity markets led investors from chasing short-term returns to hanging on to their accumulated wealth.

'The priorities now, among many investors, are preservation of wealth, then transmission of wealth (often within the family), and confidentiality.'

'Trusts, which most Asian investors were not familiar with four or five years ago, are coming into this culture.'



SG's private bank broadens regional reach and services