One in the eye for S’pore. Not what the ESC report meant when it parroted about “entrenching ourselves deeper into the Asia markets” and “seizing opportunities”.
There are int’l media reports (of course not reported in our MSM) that HSBC and JP Morgan Chase are planning to relocate their global heads of private banking to HK, that not so well-known wealth mgt centre, though Credit Suisse bases its regional private banking HQ there. But it is close to China, Taiwan and South Korea, where there are many newly rich people.
Bit strange that they didn’t come our way. S’pore has Citibank’s top private banking guy here, and UBS has stationed a top Swiss banker here. And wannabe private bank Standard Chartered bases its global HQ here. But then Citi and UBS are tainted gds.
Backgrounder
HSBC’s and JP Morgan Chase’s private banks, are among the world’s largest. The former managed assets of US$352 billion as of the end of 2008, according to the company, while the latter managed US$350 million as at Sept last yr according to a Barron’s report.
