[Sponsored Article] From Hong Kong’s tycoons to the mainland’s new rich, many of the region’s affluent families are moving into the next generation. Demand for tailored wealth management and succession planning solutions is clearly on the rise. Most importantly, they need a trusted advisor who understands the family’s values and can recommend the best possible ways to preserve, accumulate and pass on their wealth, says Peter Tung, Head of Private Banking for Greater China of DBS Hong Kong. “It is our Asian roots and deep understanding of Asian cultures that distinguish us from global competitors. Headquartered in Singapore, we have a strong presence in Hong Kong, right at the gateway of the fast-growing Greater Bay Area. Apart from being one of the best capitalised banks based out of Asia, we are also geographically and culturally closer to our clients,” he says. As at end-2020, DBS had a market cap of about US$37.4 billion, managing assets valued at about US$465 billion. As the largest bank in Southeast Asia and the safest one in Asia, DBS has earned many accolades for its private banking unit. It has been named Best Asian Private Bank by Asiamoney ; Best Private Bank in Asia Pacific by Global Finance ; and Excellent Performance in Private Banking by Bloomberg Businessweek for seven times in a row since 2015. DBS’ Private Banking business for Greater China is carried out primarily from two booking centres – Hong Kong and Singapore. DBS is also one of a few private banks in Asia to have booking centres as well as a trust offering, in which Asian clients can benefit from their established infrastructures and simple tax regimes, according to Kin Chan, Senior Market Head of Private Banking for Greater China of DBS Hong Kong. “Our regional strength and network in Private Banking, Investment and Corporate Banking allow us to provide a ‘One-Bank’ solution,” says Chan. “Private Banking clients can access a breadth of investment products and services, with privileged access to private equity deals.” Through the bank’s platform in Singapore, clients can enjoy a full spectrum of services encompassing multi-asset class investing, customised lending solutions, cross-border wealth planning, fiduciary services, family office, corporate banking and market intelligence – via a dedicated relationship manager as the single point of contact. For example, the bank’s Institutional Banking and Capital Markets teams in Singapore and Hong Kong work together to uncover business opportunities and match the right market issuers with the right investors. The fiduciary services and family office team helps them manage their global investment and structure their family wealth and succession plans. In one instance, a significant Hong Kong-based family office was seeking exclusive fixed income investment opportunities. Buying bonds on the secondary market was not practical for them due to limited liquidity and the size of investment. Therefore, they reached out to DBS Private Bank to explore various ways to deploy excess capital gained from dividend payouts from their portfolio companies. “In response to this need, we introduced the family office to the right listed companies, which issued corporate bonds through private placements on a reverse enquiry basis. We successfully completed multiple senior note issuances totalling US$1 billion in notional value with several issuers. The client was pleased to gain exclusive access to opportunities sourced through our extensive networks of corporate clients in the Greater China,” says Chan. “Trust and integrity are foundational to what we do. When it comes to sensitive matters such as succession planning or complex transactions, no way is more personal than face-to-face engagement, which we value as opportunities for us to build trust with clients,” says Tung. Having said that, to engage affluent Millennials and Gen-Z clients better in the post-Covid era, DBS has also adopted a host of digital strategies to evolve their investment and wealth management service offerings. Its digital transformation strategy and commitment to the client experience has earned the bank multiple prestigious accolades. Back in December 2020, DBS Group announced that it would set up a digital exchange, enabling accredited investors, which include Private Banking clients, to invest, manage and trade their digital assets in a safe, secure and structured manner. Such announcement underpins the bank’s commitment to accelerating the development of a fully integrated digital ecosystem to reshape capital markets. DBS Digital Exchange is Asia’s first bank-backed trust solution for cryptocurrency trading, and it has received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Not only has Covid accelerated the adoption of digital banking solutions, the pandemic has also prompted a rethink of what more can be done to support vulnerable communities and address climate change through what is known as impact investing. Some even take it one step further by setting up philanthropy trusts. “High net worth families understand that through impact investing they can have a tremendous impact on the world. We are here to galvanise our clients to integrate ESG as an investment criterion and provide them with informed investment choices,” says Tung. DBS has an ESG portfolio-weighted rating methodology that enables clients to assess and approach ESG as a curated collection of investments, helping them to invest in a combination of varying levels of ESG-rated and non-rated investments that, together, achieve a certain level of ESG rating for the overall portfolio. “While some of our clients would like to give back to the community, we connect them with local social enterprises for opportunities to create and magnify social impact while at the same time fostering their philanthropy legacy.” “What unites clients from across the Asian region is their trust in our integrity, capacity and connections, as well as our deep understanding of their values, backgrounds and priorities. Our value proposition is clear: we strive to provide bespoke, long term-oriented wealth management offering to Asian clients through our ‘One-Bank’ solution, backed by our strong technology and innovation capabilities,” concludes Tung. Note: DBS Private Banking includes DBS Private Bank and DBS Treasures Private Client , which serve the affluent segment (with investable assets greater than HK$25 million) as well as the high net worth segment (with investable assets greater than HK$8 million), respectively. In Hong Kong, DBS Private Bank and DBS Treasures Private Client are the Private Banking divisions of DBS (Hong Kong) Limited. Services and products may vary according to booking centre locations.