London-headquartered Standard Chartered, is planning to recruit 30 to 40 private bankers every year in the next two to three years to add to its roughly 300 existing relationship managers. The majority of the additions being in Hong Kong and Singapore. 

To be able to attract the best of the job seekers, the lender aims to cross the $100 Bn mark.

Didier von Daeniken, Global Head for private banking and wealth management, Standard Chartered shared, “Our ambition is to see us cross the $100 Bn mark. That makes us meaningful internally for the group, that makes us a meaningful player in this landscape. Hitting $100 Bn can give us credibility internally, help us to attract talent.”

In a short span of 30 years, Singapore has grown into a thriving financial centre. Hence, it is no surprise that StanChart is looking to explore the market more. Further, Hong Kong is also seen as a prime location for financial services. Built on a prudent and robust financial regulatory regime with a well-educated workforce and the absence of capital control, companies in financial services are said to have been given all the tools needed to succeed. The progressive growth of Renminbi (RMB) business relating to the origination and distribution of RMB investment products and trading services is fuelling new opportunities and business. How StanChart makes most of these opportunities both the markets present is to look forward to. As there shall be many challenges they face, for starters, the immense competition that will come in from MNCs as well as home grown banks and financial institutions.

Currently, with $65 Bn worth of private banking assets, StanChart is a small player compared with UBS which, as per Asian Private Banker data, had assets worth $2.3 Tn and Credit Suisse, with $770 Bn last year. 

Even amidst competition, Daeniken remains positive and believes, “With $65 Bn we are definitely not among the largest, but we are part of a company with a large balance sheet, with an unmatched presence locally in all the markets, which really matters when you cover the emerging markets.”

Let’s wait and watch how StanChart will expand in Singapore and Hong Kong, and make their place in the two markets.