Bank of Singapore sees Middle East accounting for a fifth of assets over 3 to 5 years

By Yantoultra Ngui and Xie Yu

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Bank of Singapore aims to grow its business in the Middle East with the region contributing up to 20% of its overall revenue and private banking assets over the next three to five years from around 10% currently, its top executive said.

One of Asia's biggest private banks, Bank of Singapore has grown its assets under management (AUM) to $116 billion as at end-September 2023 from about $20 billion in 2010, as per the latest financials available for the unlisted firm.

The private bank's Singapore and Hong Kong hubs currently make up the majority of its AUM.

"UAE and in particular Dubai have become key destinations for global millionaires post-COVID," Ranjit Khanna, the head of private banking for Europe and the Middle East and chief executive for Dubai hub at Bank of Singapore, told Reuters.

"This really has been spurred on the back of people looking for alternatives, really positive federal government strategies to attract wealthy to these parts of the world, ease of doing business, positive infrastructure, golden visa regime."

A growing number of wealth managers in Asia are expanding or setting up offices in Dubai, capitalising on warming diplomatic ties between China and the Middle East and betting on a surge in demand from clients for geographical diversification.

"I personally believe the next decade, in the context of wealth management, belongs to Asia and the Middle East to a great extent," Khanna said.

Global net wealth, comprising financial wealth, liabilities and real assets, rose 4.3% last year from 0.2% a year ago, with the Middle East and Africa posting 7.8% jump, according to Boston Consulting Group's Global Wealth Report 2024.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) posted the biggest percentage growth as a booking centre at 8.9% in terms of cross-border wealth on inflow from Saudi Arabia and other prosperous Middle East markets, the report showed.

The growth also came with UAE's increased role as a cross-border hub for Asia and Africa, partly driven by building closer ties with China and attracting significant international investment in the luxury real estate market, BCG added.

Bank of Singapore would evaluate making Dubai one of its booking centres in the future, Khanna said. Its current booking centres are Singapore and Hong Kong.

Bank of Singapore, part of Singapore's second-largest lender Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), is also looking to grow its presence in the Middle East by tapping on OCBC's presence in Southeast Asia, China and Britain.

OCBC's wealth AUM, including that of Bank of Singapore, rose 2% to a record S$279 billion ($213.5 billion) in the second quarter.

Besides tapping on the growing wealth from global South Asians, people in the oil rich Gulf states, and Europeans into Dubai, Bank of Singapore saw opportunity and rising interests from rich Chinese clients, Khanna said.

"I'm certainly seeing an increasing flow of mainland Chinese clients coming into Dubai and the region broadly," he said.

($1 = 1.3070 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore and Xie Yu in Hong Kong; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Stephen Coates)