Strategy
Comment: Why Size Matters in Capturing Asian Wealth

Shayne Nelson, global head of high value client coverage and chief executive at Standard Chartered Private Bank, tells WealthBriefingAsia why big is beautiful in Asian private banking.
Shayne Nelson, global head of high value client coverage and chief executive at Standard Chartered Private Bank, tells WealthBriefingAsia why big is beautiful in Asian private banking.
Looking to the future of Asia’s rapidly growing wealth management market, I see three key trends, all of which I believe favour large private banks over their boutique counterparts.
A changing mindset
First, a new generation of rich has different characteristics to private bank clients in the West. In Asia, more than 60 per cent of clients are entrepreneurs or business owners who are busy creating their wealth. Large private banks – particularly if part of universal banking groups – are better placed to meet the wide-ranging needs of these clients, as they can extend beyond wealth management and draw on their parent bank’s wholesale, investment, SME and even Islamic banking expertise and capabilities.
Even through partnerships, this kind of 360-degree view of clients’ interests is hard for boutiques to match.
It also puts large private banks ahead when it comes to winning clients and establishing trusting relationships. At Standard Chartered, for example, many of our new clients are owners of medium-sized enterprises who already have longstanding SME banking relationships with us.