Asia-Pacific is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting regions for private banking in the world. Booming gross domestic product (GDP) growth, expanding private sectors and swelling high-net-worth wealth are making it particularly attractive to global banks. The transformation is such that some market participants are speculating that cities such as Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai could soon threaten Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s private banking duopoly in the region.
But private bankers in these two centres are not worried. Too much work is needed, they say, for centres to catch up. The question they are asking instead is whether Hong Kong and Singapore could themselves challenge Switzerland's long-held status as the premier global private banking hub. Will Asia-Pacific’s aggregate high-net-worth wealth – which is projected to outstrip North America’s in the near future – be sufficient to see Switzerland toppled?