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DBS focuses on right mindset for the region

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Wealthy Asians have vastly different banking requirements compared with their high net worth counterparts in the United States and Europe.

So much so, that Singapore-based DBS bank has set itself apart from its rivals to focus on this unique - and fast expanding - niche.

Recently named in the top 10 of Euromoney magazine's best private banks in Hong Kong, DBS said to be successful in Asia, it had to be in tune with the Asian mindset and have good guanxi - or relationship - with its clients.

To this end, DBS Private Banking managing director K.C. Tew said the bank's advantage over its rivals lay in the fact that it was an Asian bank working in an Asian market.

'For a private bank to be successful [in Asia], it has to be Asian. We cannot be like American banks or Swiss banks. The rich people are very proud of themselves and we should give them due credit because they are successful,' Mr Tew said.

'Hong Kong people are different and have unique characteristics. In Singapore they are different ... [and] in the Philippines and Malaysia. I don't want to be like Citibank or Chase or a Swiss bank ... I want to be Asian.'

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