DBS Bank awarded Best Private Bank in Wealth and Society in Asia Pacific at the inaugural Global Wealth and Society Awards 2018

• DBS Bank operates largest and fastest growing private banking business in Asia Pacific (excluding China)
• Commitment to ESG and impact investing across its wealth franchise
• Building on digital transformation to achieve tangible and significant business outcomes

London, November 8th 2018- DBS Bank received the Best Private Bank in Wealth and Society in Asia Pacific award at The Global Wealth and Society Awards 2018. The award ceremony was held in conjunction with the Future Wealth Summit 2018,at the Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch, London.

The London-based Global Wealth and Society Awards Programme seeks to recognise high and ultra-high net-worth individuals who use their wealth to bring about positive impacts on the society that they operate in, and the institutions that help them do so. Recipient of these awards underwent a stringent and comprehensive evaluation process, demonstrating the verve to deploy wealth in ways to bring about positive impacts on the society and at the same time make positive financial return on client investments.

Standing from left:, Members of the International Advisory Council of the Global Wealth and Society Awards programme; Gordian Gaeta, April Rudin and Urs Bolt with Muriel Simon; CEO; DBS Vickers Securities (UK)

DBS Bank operates largest and fastest growing private banking business in Asia Pacific (excluding China)

DBS Bank operates the largest and fastest growing private banking business among Asian and Asia Pacific domiciled banks (Ex-China). Its strong high and ultra-high net-worth client base is ranked sixth in the region, and is top among Asian and Asia Pacific domiciled banks. It operates across Asia’s largest and fastest growing wealth markets of China, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. In the period under review, the bank significantly improved the profitability of its private banking business by 60%, increased AUM by 20%, reduced cost-to-income and elevated return-on-equity, not only through the successful integration of acquisitions, but mainly through the optimisation of digital value capture from its digital transformation efforts.

Commitment to ESG and impact investing across its wealth franchise

The seriousness of its ESG focus is demonstrated in the extensive and holistic range of activities across products and services and a vision to empower and encourage consumers to make sustainable choices. Being the first bank in Asia to issue an ESG linked investment product suite, the bank designed products on the lines of sustainable and responsible (RHB SRI KEHATI Index Fund) and environmentally inclusive investment (The Wellington Global Impact Fund and Parvest Global Environment Fund). Additional ESG suite include green/social bonds, the Woman’s Livelihood Bond (WLB) exclusive for empowering over 385,000 women in South-East Asia, and customer initiatives (Windows on Philanthropy and Future Leaders Programme) and sustainable community programme (through the $50 million funded DBS Foundation).

Building on digital transformation to achieve tangible and significant business outcomes

With a strong digital transformation roadmap, the bank continues to digitalise key aspect of the private banking business with the launch of the DBS iWealth platform. Its UHNW clients can leverage services like online equity trading, fund investments and fixed deposits on the all-in-one integrated platform. The bank further made notable enhancements to its online wealth management services to reap benefits of lower costs of acquisition, growing transaction volumes, and deep client engagement by positioning it to become a trusted “Pocket-Sized DBS Digital Advisor”. The uptake of its digital wealth platform among its wealth customers reached 77% in August 2018.

Scoring high across all criteria; Value of Franchise, Financial Performance, Social Impact and digitalisation, the bank enunciated a clear strategic vision of the future of wealth around the core pillars of ESG, Estate Planning, Ecosystem, alternative investments and External Asset Management.

At the awards ceremony, DBS Bank of Singapore was named the Best Private Bank in Wealth and Society in Asia-Pacific. Other Best Private Bank in Wealth and Management Award winning institutions include Indonesia’s Bank Mandiri, South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank, Saudi Arabia’s Samba Financial Group, Thailand’s Kasikornbank and Turkey’s TEB Private Bank.

For specific details relating to description of the awards, evaluation criteria and process, kindly visit http://www.wealthandsociety.com/theglobalwealthandsocietyawards/criteria

For all Wealth and Society Awards 2018 photos, please visit https://www.facebook.com/pg/wealthandsociety/photos/?tab=album&album_id=368836930527229

For media enquiries, please contact:

Alfred Labiccasi
Marketing Manager
Wealth and Society
Tel: (+44) 1823 711134
alabiccasi@wealthandsociety.com
www.theasianbanker.com