Bank Of Singapore Agrees Referral Pact With German Lender

Tom Burroughes

28 October 2016

A German private bank’s business in Singapore, which is due to close operations in the Asian city-state, has signed an exclusive client referral agreement with .

The German firm has been looking to exit the market for some time.

DZ PRIVATEBANK Singapore, part of DZ PRIVATBANK, has signed the pact so that its clients can continue to get access to such services in the jurisdiction, BoS said in a statement.

WealthBriefingAsia has asked the banks about the potential scale of business likely to be transferred to BoS from the agreement; Bank of Singapore declined to elaborate; WBA had not received a reply from DZ PRIVATEBANK at the time of going to press but will update in due course.

Such an agreement comes hard on the heels of the move by OCBC, parent firm of Bank of Singapore, to acquire the Hong Kong and Singapore private banking operations of UK-listed Barclays earlier this year, highlighting how local players are consolidating their position and picking up assets from foreign organisations. In 2014, Societe Generale sold its private bank in Asia to DBS; at present, there is media speculation that ABN AMRO’s Asian private bank will be sold, with Julius Baer and DBS said to be among the suitors. Banque Internationale à Luxembourg has shut is operation in Singapore.
Bank of Singapore said there is no financial exchange between the banks.

“DZPBSG’s choice of Bank of Singapore was made based on its strong financial rating, and its ability to provide a wide range of innovative product and investment solutions through its open-architecture product platform,” Bank of Singapore said.