BNP Paribas ramps up Asia wealth management operations

Singapore/Hong Kong: French bank BNP Paribas is ramping up its Asia wealth management business with a new ultra-high-net-worth unit and a reorganised structure to help capture burgeoning wealth in emerging markets.

The move is part of a broader industry push into high-growth countries such as China and India as economic trends in the West remain uncertain.

"These Asian markets are not debt-saddled nations. They are in a very strong wealth-creation phase," said Catherine Tillotson, a partner at wealth management consultancy Scorpio Partnership.

Separate heads

BNP will reorganise its Asia unit according to key markets — named as Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, India and Singapore (including Malaysia and Indonesia) — with separate heads for each, the bank said in a statement yesterday.

It will also set up a dedicated unit for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, which for the majority of private banks means clients with at least $30 million (Dh110.34 million) in investable assets.

Mignonne Cheng, who has spent nearly two decades with the company, will retain her responsibilities as chairman and chief executive of the French bank's Asia-Pacific wealth management division.

Serge Janowski will head the Hong Kong wealth unit of BNP Paribas and Sergi Forti will head the Singapore unit.

Battleground

Asia, home to more than 3 million millionaires, has become a battleground for private banks as global and Asian players compete for market share in a region that is fast outpacing the United States and Europe in economic growth.

The combined wealth of Asia-Pacific high-net-worth individuals, or those with investible assets of more than $1 million, is estimated to grow at an annual rate of 8.8 per cent until 2018, faster than the global average of 7.1 percent, according to a Merrill Lynch-Capgemini wealth report.

The competition for wealth management talent in Asia is becoming more cut-throat, with banks having to poach from rivals to cope with a dearth of home-grown professionals, according to Scorpio Partnership's Tillotson.

Developed structure

"There is some poaching that is happening ... Recruitment from other industries and university graduates as well," she said, though she added Singapore had gained ground with a developed structure for training programmes.

BNP competes with the private banking units of UBS AG and Citigroup, as well as fast-emerging Asian banks such as Bank of Singapore, owned by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC).

BNP Paribas Wealth Management manages ¤257 billion (Dh1.22 trillion) across 30 countries and employs more than 6,500.