Our executive director in Private Banking recruitment, Chuen Li Lee has been interviewed by Fund Selector Asia to share her views on private banks continuing with their hiring plans amid Covid-19.
According to Chuen Li, "non-bank wealth managers, such as independent asset managers (IAMs) and multi-family offices operating in Asia, have carried on with their expansion plans in the region".
Furthermore, Lee claims that her clients have continued to hire in the region despite the coronavirus.
“We are talking about firms that manage billions of assets. They are not the kind of people who would say ‘we are here today,’ and then gone tomorrow”.
“They have long-term money and I don’t think that their expansion plans in Asia are going to be hindered by this.”
Lee adds, "private banks operating in Asia have continued with their hiring plans, albeit “cautiously”.
“Every private bank will say they are hiring opportunistically [but not aggressively]. Because these days, [even before the pandemic], it is quite difficult for a private banker to bring their book along with them to another firm,” she explained.
“Not a lot of clients want to open a brand new account every time their relationship manager moves to another bank.”
GROWING SEGMENTS
While the IAM and multi-family office segments in Asia are not yet as mature when compared with the US and Europe, Lee believes that they have been growing in the region. On the IAM front, Hong Kong and Singapore had around 160 IAMs as of the end of 2017, which collectively managed nearly $100bn in private wealth.