Barclays, which has been cutting back its international footprint, such as scaling back its presence in Africa, had $17.5 billion in AuM at the Singapore and Hong Kong businesses when it agreed to sell them to BoS, part of OCBC, on 7 April. The purchase price was set at 1.75 per cent of AuM transferred on completion.

The deal brings Bank of Singapore’s AuM to $75 billion and has added more than 60 bankers to its team, an important development at a time when banks are seeking to build scale to cope with the impact of rising regulatory and client demands. The deal comes in a period of considerable M&A activity in the Asian wealth management market. ANZ, the Australia-headquartered bank, recently agreed to sell Asia retail/wealth businesses to Singapore-listed DBS; in 2014, Societe Generale, the French banking group, sold its Asia private bank to DBS. ABN AMRO is also reportedly looking to sell its Asia private bank.

“I am pleased with the numbers coming from Barclays WIM Singapore and Hong Kong. Everyone at Bank of Singapore is happy that we have topped the benchmarks for the acquisition of a private bank with about 75 per cent of the AuM transferred,” said Bahren Shaari, chief executive of Bank of Singapore.

Shaari said BoS has organically grown its AuM from $22 billion in 2010 to $62 billion this year.

“We now have one of the largest teams of close to 400 experienced bankers to serve ultra-high net worth individuals and high net worth individuals in our core markets, offering them our comprehensive range of investment ideas and solutions backed by strong research capabilities. They will also benefit from our connectivity in key markets, including Greater China, Indonesia and Malaysia, in the commercial banking space through our parent company, OCBC,” Shaari added.