SINGAPORE: DBS Group plans to boost assets under management for its wealth business to S$ 500 billion ( US$ 369.7 billion ) by the end of 2026, said the unit’s head, as the top Singaporean bank bets on robust inflows into the country.
Singapore’s benefit from strong inflows of money into Asia was attributed to its relative political stability, lower taxes, and policies favorable for the establishment of home offices and trusts, which is how prosperity assets at DBS increased by 23 percent to a report S$ 365 billion next year.
DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest supplier by resources, banks more than a second of Singapore’s home offices.
” The industry is actually kind of on the verge of a recovery because prices are rising,” said DBS Group Executive and Group Head of Consumer Banking Group and Wealth Management Shee Tse Koon.
Referring to the strategy for growing the bank’s money assets, Shee, who has worked at DBS for nearly eight years, told Reuters he was very comfortable about meeting the goal, barring any “black bird” event.
By the end of 2026, DBS plans to double the number of wealthy clients with assets worth at least S$ 1 million and above, he said, noting that the bank’s client base increased by more than 50 % over the past two years.
Global large- net- worth- personal wealth and population rose by 4.7 per cent and 5.1 per cent, both, in 2023, reversing from 2022’s decline, the Capgemini Research Institute’s World Wealth Report 2024 published on Jun 7 showed.
The report revealed that the wealthy’s appetite for risk had also decreased, with cash holdings falling from multi-decade highs of 34 % the same quarter a year ago to 25 % of investment totals in January 2024.