Strategy
Lombard Odier Confirms Indonesia Bank Collaboration

The Swiss bank confirms, and adds detail to, reports of its collaboration with an Indonesian institution to tap wealth opportunities in the Asian country.
Lombard Odier
has confirmed that it is collaborating with Indonesian lender
PT Bank
Mandiri Tbk, adding more detail to
press reports about the move that were given here last
week.
The Geneva-headquartered private bank will support Bank Mandiri’s
efforts to develop its private banking arm through investment and
family services. A complete offering of onshore discretionary
management services will be launched by Bank Mandiri this month,
with different risk profiles matching Bank Mandiri’s specific
needs for its high net worth and ultra-HNW clients.
“This latest regional partnership with Bank Mandiri, the largest
bank in Indonesia in terms of assets, reinforces our commitment
to onshore private clients in the Asia region, particularly in
Southeast Asia where we see great growth potential in terms of
wealth management,” Vincent Magnenat, limited partner and CEO of
Asia-Pacific at Lombard Odier, said.
The lender said this collaboration is among a number of alliances
with Asian counterparts to have been signed in recent years.
Lombard Odier announced similar partnerships with UnionBank in
the Philippines in August 2016 and with Kasikornbank in Thailand
in December 2014. In addition to these Southeast Asia-focused
partnerships, Lombard Odier has also forged alliances with
financial firms in mainland China, Japan, South Korea and
Australia.
Indonesia’s wealth management market has been in flux. A year
ago, Indonesia completed a tax amnesty that was said to have
brought billions of dollars of wealth back into the country and
out of Singapore. As a result, banks that previously ran
Indonesian money from the Asian city-state are looking at
building onshore presences and services in Indonesia (see
here for an interview with executive search firm Huddleston
Jones about the issue). In May last year, OCBC, parent of Bank of
Singapore, launched onshore private banking in Indonesia through
its 85 per cent-owned subsidiary, OCBC NISP.
A number of banks have made Indonesia-focused appointments in
recent months. As reported a few days ago, Citi Private Bank has
appointed Simon Kastono as global market manager for Indonesia.
He took up the role at the start of this week. VP Bank
(Singapore), part of Liechtenstein-headquartered VP Bank, in
February appointed Samuel Witjaksono as market head of Indonesia.
The hire is part of the firm's strategy to expand in Asia, it
said at the time.