Standard Chartered Hires Ex-Barclays, Other Bankers In Hong Kong

Tom Burroughes

10 October 2016

WealthBriefingAsia understands that at least 10 private bankers are joining - in Hong Kong. OCBC in April agreed to buy the Hong Kong and Singapore private banking operations of Barclays, which like a number of European firms is offloading some non-core business. In 2014, Societe Generale sold its Asian private bank to Singapore-headquartered DBS.

Standard Chartered declined to comment when contacted by this news service about the moves.

Bloomberg quoted an OCBC senior manager, Jeffrey Chiam, global resources head, as saying: “Attrition is part and parcel of any business and we have not expected zero employee attrition at Barclays." He was referring to the point that in most M&A deals, it is common for some bankers at an acquired business to jump ship, taking some clients with them.

The article noted that the amount OCBC finally pays for the Barclays unit depends on the assets under management figure at the end of the year. It quoted Chiam as saying: "We will therefore be paying a fair value for the business." “Almost all” the wealth managers in Singapore will be transferring to OCBC at the end of the year, Chiam said.

At the time of the Barclays sale of its units to OCBC in April, the banks said OCBC will pay the equivalent of 1.75 per cent of the Singapore and Hong Kong WIM units' assets under management at the completion of the transaction. Based on their AuM of $18.3 billion at 31 December 2015, the indicative purchase price was $320 million.