The bank has been awarded an an investment company licence, and says it is breaking new ground by doing so.

Bank of Singapore has won an investment company licence to operate a wealth management subsidiary in Luxembourg, which it said is a first for a Singapore private bank, and a sign of how the jurisdiction’s banks are pushing their footprint westward.

The bank, via its new subsidiary, BOS Wealth Management Europe Société Anonyme, will offer private banking solutions and investment advisory solutions to high net worth and ultra-HNW clients in the European Economic Area and the UK – a total of 32 countries. (The EEA comprises the European Union countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.)

At present, Bank of Singapore serves its European clients from its Singapore headquarters and through its parent company OCBC Bank’s London office.

The Luxembourg-based business will be headed by Mr Anthony Adriano Simcic), who will report to Olivier Denis, Bank of Singapore’s global market head for Singapore, Malaysia and International.

Simcic, who has 18 years of banking experience, was previously head of private banking for HSBC Private Bank in Luxembourg. (Simic's appointment was originally announced here.)

The new operation is due to start operations in the third quarter of this year. As part of its strategy, the bank said it is “poised to bring its European business to the next level” and improve its coverage of the independent asset manager segment in Europe.

The bank is looking to tap into a recent rise in the number of Europe-based HNW individuals: the number rose 7.7 per cent last year to 4.5 million – actually faster than the 7.4 per cent increase recorded for the Asia-Pacific – bucking a recent trend. In terms of HNW individual wealth, Europe registered the third highest growth (8.2 per cent by region, Bank of Singapore said, citing recent Capgemini data.

This lender is by no means alone among Asian banks looking to build business in Europe. DBS last year acquired a UK securities licence.  (In the DBS case, the move was seen as an endorsement of London despite any jitters around the UK vote in June 2016 to leave the European Union.) The UK is home to a significant Asia expat population, so such banks have an opportunity to engage with this client base. Bank of China is returning to running private banking operations in Geneva, having tried and failed to do so a few years ago. 

“Since the global financial crisis of 2008, European high net worth individuals and family offices have shown increasing interest in Asia, and especially in Singapore, as an alternative wealth hub. As a Singapore headquartered private bank with deep knowledge of and extensive insights into Asia, Bank of Singapore has been a natural choice for them,” chief executive of Bank of Singapore, Bahren Shaari, said.

“We are confident of replicating our successful business model – which is flourishing in Hong Kong and Dubai – so that it supports the growing affluence and rising economic activities in the European Economic Area,” he added.