Are the Ultra-Rich Ready for Singapore After Credit Suisse?
The wealthy might want to diversify beyond UBS to the likes of DBS. But their ability to take more risks with their money is in doubt this year.
Risk averse?
Photographer: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images
On a conference call last month, Piyush Gupta, the chief executive officer at DBS Group Holdings Ltd., said that he was hoping to garner at least 1 percentage point revenue growth by managing more money for the super rich. His wish may be about to be fulfilled. Now that Credit Suisse Group AG has been swallowed up, some of the ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their family offices will look beyond the default option of using its rescuer UBS Group AG for all their wealth management needs — especially if they’re already clients of the bigger Swiss bank.
Asia is an obvious destination. But for Singapore’s DBS, its two smaller rivals, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. and United Overseas Bank Ltd., as well as large Hong Kong lenders such as HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc, feasting on Credit Suisse’s misfortune comes with the risk of indigestion.