2022 Singapore Private Banking Insights

Coffee catch-up with Chris Keek and Charlotte Chen, Executive Search Consultants at BTI Executive Search Singapore

Q1. How would you describe the Private Banking recruitment landscape right now?

Charlotte: The Private Banking (PB) space has been exceptionally vibrant at the start of 2022. Demand for high-quality senior candidates continues to strengthen across the PB and Wealth Management job market, including the External Asset Management (EAM), Family Offices/Multi-Family Offices (FO/MFO), and Affluent Banking segments.

Chris: Firms large and small are seeking to capture market share from rising levels of wealth in the region. Net worth has grown fourfold in the Asia Pacific since 2000, with the region accounting for some 42%, or $218 trillion, of total global wealth. In China, the total number of billionaires grew to a record high of 626 in 2021, according to Forbes, second only to the United States’ 724 billionaires. The Chinese billionaires’ collective net worth more than doubled in 2020 to reach $2.5 trillion.

 

Q2. Singapore is a big draw to this sector – why is that? 

Charlotte: Singapore’s UHNW population is growing. According to Knight Frank’s latest 2022 edition of The Wealth Report, the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) in Singapore rose 8.6% to 4,206 in 2021, with 28 billionaires, up from 25 a year before. Between 2021 and 2026, the report predicts Singapore’s UHNWI population to grow by 43% to almost 6,000.

Singapore’s status as a safe haven for investments and its proximity to other opportunities in Asia are also significant attractions to overseas investors. Its large Mandarin-speaking community and the lack of wealth tax appeals to Chinese investors. Hong Kong’s lack of stability and recent covid-related restrictions in Shanghai and Beijing have further spurred the interest of wealthy Chinese relocating to Singapore.

 

Q3. Can you tell us more about the type of firms expanding in Singapore?

Chris: Competition for Southeast Asia-desk bankers and China-desk bankers is heating up – we’ve seen firms such as Deutsche Bank and Julius Baer hiring more Relationship Managers (RMs) to serve Southeast Asia and mainland China clients from Singapore.

Bankers who serve the booming family office sector are also in high demand, with UBS, HSBC and Standard Chartered among those making significant hires during this year and last year.

Charlotte: Many affluent Chinese are setting up family offices in Singapore. Others are creating extensions of their operations in Hong Kong.

In 2020, there were about 400 family offices in Singapore, according to the Economic Development Board. Hundreds more have likely been set up here since then.

 

Q4. How do candidates explore these opportunities?

Charlotte: Candidates might not be aware of these opportunities because the smaller family offices and EAM firms rarely post roles out in the market, relying more on connections with headhunters like us to source new talent. We reach out to our candidates and share the details of these available roles with them exclusively.

 

Q5. How easy is it for candidates to move from China and Hong Kong to Singapore?

Chris: Not at all easy. Overseas-based candidates have little understanding of Singapore’s central bank (MAS) guidelines: account opening and compliance standards and risk management frameworks. Though our clients are open to having an initial conversation due to our recommendation, they will still have many areas of concern. Hence the handholding/coaching we have with our candidates is longer and more drawn-out than with the local candidates, and the success rate we have in placing oversea talents is still not very high.

 

Q6. Can candidates easily move within the banking and finance ecosystem?

Charlotte: It is a progression for Affluent bankers to move up the ladder to Private Banking, but the ease of doing so depends on opportunities and their readiness. Our job is to help source and seize these opportunities at the right time for our candidates.

 

Q7. What candidate is best suited to working for an EAM or Family Office?

Charlotte: EAMs and Family Offices appeal to a rare breed of entrepreneurial self-starters with very strong connections with their clientele.

Without backing the Bank’s ecosystem and brand name, these bankers must rely on their tight connection with the clients based on utmost trust. They stand on their client’s side, making every recommendation based on their needs and wants. They now have the flexibility to work with multiple custodian banks without requiring product push.

 

Q8. In today’s candidate-driven market, have candidates’ expectations changed?

Chris: We’ve witnessed a shift in the aims and priorities of some candidates, perhaps driven by a rapidly evolving industry and the impact of the pandemic. People are interested in diversifying their careers and trying something new.

Candidates prepared to be agile have a much broader range of options. Some are attracted to the thrill and intrigue of fintech and crypto [backlink to Matthew’s article], for example, where the workplace culture can be more relaxed than in traditional banks. Start-ups can offer remote working, an attractive title, profit-sharing, and employee share options (or crypto tokens).

 

Q9. What’s your headhunting strategy, and how does it differ from your competitors?

Chris: With senior appointments, finding the magical fit between client and candidate is an art, not a science. Every role is different, so we take time to understand what makes our candidates tick.

Our strategy is to act as a candidate’s career partner – so the relationship is built on a consultative basis, not a transactional one. We put ourselves in the candidate’s shoes and walk them through every step of the recruitment cycle. When a candidate knows that we’re genuinely in their corner instead of just doing a job, it gives them extra confidence knowing we’re finding the best solution for them instead of simply driving for a sales result.

Charlotte: We aim to help our candidates source for a long-term career over just another job. We take pride in diagnosing their strengths and challenges, identifying gaps, and advising steps to help build them up into the next position.

This process can take years but is necessary and worthwhile when our core interest is to help our candidates.

 

Q10. How do you help a candidate get over the line with a client? 

Chris: We work with a special breed of senior bankers of a certain caliber and level of seniority. The depth and stickiness with their clients and team often set top candidates apart. Senior profiles (Head of WM/Market Head/Team Head/Senior Client Partner) know which platform fits their clients and bankers well; hence it becomes easy for us to shortlist the top three banks for their next move.

We bring our candidates to the first client-candidate-consultant meeting and sit in to help break the ice and channel a 360-effect to achieve a win-win. This also allows us to learn fast and understand the hiring manager’s meeting style. This small action of partnering with our client and candidate has brought us tremendous trust and success.

 

Q11. Confidentiality is a vital component of the process, would you agree?

Chris: Of course! Above all else, the most critical facet of our job is integrity. We’re not doing things right without total trust on both the client and candidate sides. We heavily emphasize maintaining absolute confidentiality at every stage of the recruitment process. Naturally, candidates don’t want any extra stress worrying that their job-seeking intentions will be revealed publicly – that can be a deal-breaker. So we never stint on this side.

 

Q12. Finally, can you share a little about your career journeys?

Chris: I have some 20 years of experience in the recruitment profession, and today my primary focus is Private Banking, the industry closest to my heart. Previously I was an entrepreneur, spending around five years running my businesses across the Retail, F&B, and Education sectors before pivoting into recruitment.

Charlotte: I started my career with 11 years of experience in the Private Banking/EAM space with Credit Suisse and Julius Baer in Singapore and Hong Kong. This equips me with the crucial industry knowledge and connections to source talents or assist candidates with their next career move in EAM, FO/MFO, and Wealth Management roles.

Like to know how we can take your career in private banking to the next level? Feel free to reach out to Chris and Charlotte for a coffee chat.