DBS targets 20-30% assets growth in major Asia markets

Lender expects to expand S$35bln private banking opertions by adding China, Indonesia, and India market.

The private banking arm of Singapore's DBS said on Monday it expects 20 to 30% annual growth in net new assets from China, Indonesia and India, as it gears up for expansion in Asia's fastest-growing markets for millionaires.

"The high delta or the high growth markets right now are clearly China, Indonesia for Southeast Asia, and India," Su Shan Tan, DBS's group head of wealth management, said at the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit. "So those are our key focus areas right now."

Asia has become the battleground for private banks as global and Asian players expand to gain bigger market share in a region that is outpacing growth in the United States and Europe.

Tan, a former Morgan Stanley banker who joined DBS in July, said the bank has set up two teams in Singapore to target rich Indian clients and hopes to have five to six bankers by the end of the year for that segment.

View the full story in Money Control.