The private side of banking
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Rabobank Asia Ur <i i
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When the bank identified international private banking as a core
activity for growth, one of the main priorities was to grow critical
mass. Pursuing this goal has led to the expansion of IPB activities
around the world, not least through recruitment of top experts in the
field and teams of senior IPB relationship managers. In Singapore, IPB
managing director Chris Hayes started expanding activities at the
beginning of the year. He outlines what the team is doing and the role
played by Hong Kong in tackling this potentially lucrative market.
Regional is a word you almost
cannot avoid in Singapore.
Everything the office does is
oriented towards the regional
network it serves and IPB is no
exception. 'Private banking
here was an ideal candidate for
regionalization because a
regional approach to this
business is essential. Another
factor was that with 1997
arriving for Hong Kong, it
Chris Hayes
became necessary to decide
whether we should have two
separate operations - one
there, one here. Or whether it
made more sense to
consolidate the booking in
Singapore. We decided on the
latter and that meant that we
effectively had to create two
centres. It has been remarkably
successful already. And the
excellent cooperation between
the two means we have a lot of
flexibility.'
GROWING BUSINESS
Besides restructuring existing
IPB activities into the two
centres, Hayes and his team
have also been working to
grow existing business and to
diversify the range of products
on offer to the high net worth
individuals who are their
clients. 'In private banking,' he
says, 'you have to build critical
mass in your assets under
management otherwise your
expenses will exceed your
income. To provide the kind of
service clients require from
private bankers, you need a
certain number of specialists. So
every private banker knows the
name of the game is to increase
critical mass until you reach a
size where you become
profitable. After you've reached
that point, it is almost all profit.
The problem is that everyone in
this business - the competition
- is chasing the same goals.'
CUSTOMER DRIVEN
The fact that Asia is such an
exceptionally dynamic area
now undergoing a phase of
unprecedented economie
growth also means that new
millionaires, all of them
potential JPB clients, are being
created every day. 'But,' Hayes
clarifies, 'competition in this
market is massive. Almost
every bank you can think of is
doing IPB.
So most accounts already have
one or more private bankers at
their disposal. What you have
to do is try and get them to
come to you. That means you
have to have both a good
range of products and a lot of
interesting ideas. On the other
hand, while product is
important, it has to be flexible
and it has to be suited to the
customer. A private-banking
operation cannot be product-
driven, it must be customer-
driven. The customer is
everything.'
LOOKING AHEAD
To provide the level of
personal service essential to
this market, the IPB teams in
Singapore and Hong Kong
have been structured to
comprise both focused product
know-how and private
banking experience. 'In
Singapore we have two deputy
Managing Directors, Colin
Gee and and Mare Tomchek.
Colin is in charge of marketing
and Mare runs the office.
ASIA OPENS UP
In Hong Kong you'11 find
Virginia Kwan and Simon
Ruckert in similar positions.
But in addition to these two
offices, we also have a
representative in Jakarta and
we are looking to open up in
Taiwan. Bombay and Australia
are also on the horizon. We
already have a certain amount
of business in Taiwan and we
know the potential. But if you
look at Australia, then you see
we haven't even done a studv
yet. There is enough to keep us
going in this region for years.
And that's the excitement for
us all.'
PRIVATE BANKING
Chris Hayes, sinds begin van dit jaar hoofd IPB, is druk bezig met het uitbreiden van de Private Banking activiteiten. De doelgroep
'vermogende particulieren'heeft echter een zeer grote keus aan banken. Alleen door goede producten te leveren, die flexibel zijn
en passen bij de eisen en wensen van de klant, kan een portefeuille worden opgebouwd. Hong Kong beschikt al over een eigen team, in Jakarta is
inmiddels één private banker en naar andere landen, zoals India, Australië en Taiwan wordt nu gekeken.
