Stable and sustained growth
UBS has consistently held the top position for private banking RM headcount in Asia for the past five years. Credit Suisse held second place from 2019 to 2021 but was overtaken by DBS in 2022, one year before its collapse.
In 2023, Citi Wealth entered the league table at fourth place. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse merged with UBS and the combined entity became the private bank with the most RMs in Asia by a significant margin.
With a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7% and a three-year CAGR of 6%, RM headcount in Asia’s private banking industry has been rising consistently.
The industry saw the biggest YoY jump in 2020 when the aggregate Asia ex-China onshore RM headcount of the top 20 private banks rose 16% to 5,924. However, it should be noted that this figure is slightly boosted by the inclusion of DBS Wealth Management’s RMs. DBS’s RM headcount stood at 567 for 2020.
The region’s private banking RM headcount has displayed relatively stable and sustained growth with similar three-year and five-year CAGR figures. This contradicts the CAGR patterns in private banking AUM in the region, where CAGR figures lower as the time frame contracts.
RM headcount in Asia’s private banking industry has been rising consistently. From 2018 to 2023, the total headcount of the top 20 private banks rose 39% from 5,023 to 6,985, although this figure is partially affected by the inclusion of new players.
Methodology
A private banking client is considered to have a minimum of US$1 million in investable assets with a bank, to have an allocated RM, and to be able to use the bank’s investment products as well as other personalised services. For the purposes of our data, this definition includes services offered by banks with a retail legacy that fall outside their uppermost private banking client segment, but still meet the private banking criteria mentioned above.
Some banks publicly state their regional AUM totals, others do not. Therefore, the datasets presented here contain a mix of estimates, shared, and reported figures. We also recognise that banks are inconsistent in the way they count AUM. Where possible, we footnote for or provide some guidance on this. However, in the absence of enforced or agreed-upon standardisation and transparency, these inconsistencies will continue to undermine our ability to directly compare banks’ AUM.
BNP Paribas Wealth Management (BNP WM) – Global AUM: publicly reported; Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Bank of Singapore (BOS) – Asia AUM: APB estimate;Bank of China (Hong Kong) Private Banking (BOCHK) – Asia AUM: APB estimate;
CIMB Private Banking (CIMB PB) – Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Citi Wealth (Citi) – Asia AUM: provided by bank (includes Private Bank and Private Client);
China Merchants Bank Private Banking (CMB PB) – Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Credit Suisse (CS AG) – Global AUM: publicly reported; Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Deutsche Bank Private Bank (DB PB) – Global AUM: publicly reported; Asia AUM: APB estimate;
DBS Wealth Management (DBS WM) – Asia AUM: provided by bank (includes Private Bank and Treasures Private Client);
EFG Bank (EFG) – Global/Asia AUM: publicly reported (excluding asset management AUM);
Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management (GS PWM) – Global AUM: publicly reported; Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Hang Seng Private Banking (HS PB) – Asia AUM: APB estimate;
HSBC Global Private Banking (HSBC) – Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Indosuez Wealth Management (Indosuez WM) – Global AUM: publicly reported; Asia AUM: provided by bank;
Julius Baer (JB) – Global AUM: publicly reported; Asia AUM: APB estimate;
J.P. Morgan Private Bank (JPM PB) – Global AUM: publicly reported; Asia AUM: APB estimate;
J. Safra Sarasin – Global AUM: APB estimate (excluding asset management AUM); Asia AUM: publicly reported (excluding asset management AUM);
LGT – Global/Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Maybank Private – Asia AUM: provided by bank;
Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management (MS PWM) – Global AUM: publicly reported; Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Pictet Wealth Management (Pictet WM) – Global AUM: provided by bank; Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Standard Chartered (SC) – Global/Asia AUM: APB estimate (includes Private Bank and Priority Private);
Standard Chartered Private Banking (SC PB) – Global/Asia AUM: APB estimate;
Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) – Global AUM: publicly reported (excluding asset management AUM), Asia AUM: APB estimate;
UBS Global Wealth Management (UBS GWM) – Global/Asia AUM: publicly reported;
UOB Private Wealth (UOB PW) – Asia AUM: APB estimate (includes Private Bank and Privilege Reserve)
