StanChart hires senior banker for UHNW business
Standard Chartered Bank has made a senior hire to look after its ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) client segment in Asia.
The latest hire for the wealth business comes as StanChart attempts to expand its Asia private banking operation, having only relatively recently entered the segment.
StanChart has recruited Enoch Tan as managing director and regional UHNW head for Asean. Tan joined StanChart in the newly-created role on July 1.
Based in Singapore, he reports to Stephen Richards-Evans, the UHNW global segment head, and locally to Peter Kok, regional head for Asean private banking clients.
Tan was recruited from Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) where he was Singapore-based managing director, head of client solutions for Asia between November 2012-June 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He has both corporate finance and private banking experience, having previously worked as an investment banker at NM Rothschild & Sons between 2009-2012, and UBS Investment Bank from 2006 to 2009. An RBC spokesperson said the firm had not hired a direct replacement for Tan.
Tan joins Alison May Chan, who was appointed head of UHNW for Greater China earlier this year, and Rahul Raswant, who looks after global South Asian, Indian and African UHNW clients.
StanChart was not previously known for serving the UHNW segment, but the hiring of Michael Benz as global head of private banking last year led to the launch of its UHNW proposition in December 2014.
StanChart has a lean team serving UHNW clients, with around 10 professionals globally spread across Singapore, Hong Kong and London, and about two-thirds in Asia.
“We launched the UHNW initiative to cater to the most demanding needs of the super rich. We want to offer them more than just investment products, but all the corporate and institutional capabilities of a bank,” Benz told AsianInvestor.
Benz declined to comment on plans to add to the team. He said that “we started small and will build as we see impact.”
He noted: “UHNW clientele has, 80% of the time, normal high-net-worth client needs and only 20% of the time do they expect really bespoke or complex solutions concerning cross-jurisdictional or investment needs."
StanChart said its move to appoint senior executives with broad experience was in line with its strategy to grow the business by working with its commercial banking unit, which serves small to mid-sized businesses in Asia. Commercial banking, private banking and wealth management units all report to group head Anna Marrs.
The bank has positioned itself as the private bank for entrepreneurs. Citing an Ernst & Young report, the bank said 85% of companies in Asia were family-owned and they accounted for 34% of nominal GDP.
StanChart is relatively new to private banking. Its aspirations in the HNW and UHNW private banking business were fast-tracked when it acquired American Express Bank in 2007. That acquisition provided StanChart with the platform to go after private banking business.
In its latest annual report, StanChart said that during the first six months of this year, private banking income declined 3% compared to the same period in 2014, which was impacted by the exit of its Geneva business and client transfers to the retail client segment in Jersey. Excluding these items, income grew 4%. Assets under management rose 9% to $61 billion, excluding exits and transfers.
The bank does not break down AUM by regions, but the Asia AUM is more than 70% of global AUM.