Wealth Moves East: Hong Kong soon may surpass Switzerland as a global wealth hub.
Combining technology with human interaction remains the challenge in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) private banking and wealth management sector; both are necessary if banks in the sector are to thrive, but technological edge, while necessary, is insufficient on its own. Nowhere is this duality more acute than in the rise of artificial intelligence, which has dominated discussion in the sector in 2025.
Hong Kong and Singapore remain APAC’s preminent private banking and wealth management hubs. According to Bloomberg Intelligence (BI), Hong Kong could surpass Switzerland this year to become the world’s biggest cross-border wealth hub, managing $2.9 trillion of assets. At the same time, BI forecasts that cross-border wealth managed in Hong Kong and Singapore will increase by 12% annually over the next five years.
Rapidly rising affluence explains the auspicious dynamic: the total of high-net-worth individuals in Asia with a net worth of over $10 million grew by 5% in 2024, surpassing 850,000, with those in mainland China exceeding 470,000, accounting for 20% of the global total, according to data from global real estate consultancy Knight Frank.
Best Private Bank: DBS Private Bank
Thanks to DBS’s extensive footprint in Asia—its operations encompass Singapore, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Greater China, Taiwan and India—and its penetration of the region’s ultra-high-net-worth population (of around 40%), the bank grew assets under management (AUM) by 20% this year to 320 billion Singapore dollars ($245.5 billion). Relationship manager headcount grew by 41% in DBS’s Hong Kong private bank and by 24% in Singapore, thanks to burgeoning client demand.
Regional highlights include 66% fee income growth in China, and big wins in Taiwan (where DBS banks 30% of Forbes Taiwan Top 50 Tycoon families) via the bank’s proprietary MFO VCC platform, where rich families have restructured offshore holdings into a Singapore domicile for tax and governance optimization.
As the digitalization revolution in financial assets gathers pace, DBS is at the forefront of this dynamic as the only bank worldwide to combine tokenization, custody, and a regulated digital exchange (DDEX) in a single platform, enabling the execution of these assets to run seamlessly alongside traditional assets.
Private Bank For Sustainable Investing: BNP Paribas Wealth Management
The head of wealth management for Singapore and Southeast Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management (BNPWM), Singapore-based Garth Bregman, succinctly explained the bank’s relationship with sustainability in a 2023 interview: “Sustainability is strategically important for BNP Paribas Wealth Management, and an integral part of the advisory and discretionary services we offer to our clients.”
BNPWM utilizes its in-house proprietary “Clover evaluation” system to score a range of products, including equity, bonds and funds on a scale of 1-5 based on their sustainability credentials, recommending to wealth management clients. A sustainability-aligned portfolio includes only assets that score three “clovers” and above.
The bank offers clients active ownership and, through proxy voting, acts in a stewardship capacity to ensure sustainability-aligned investment in line with the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment.
In addition, the bank demonstrates a commitment to sustainability via its founding of the Hong Kong-based BNP Paribas Low Carbon Transition Group as well as its membership of the International Carbon Market Council, an initiative designed to support the development of an international carbon trading market in Hong Kong.
Best Private Bank Digital Solutions For Clients: ICICI Securities
ICICI Securities operates one of the largest brokerage platforms in India—ICICI Direct—which offers customers the ability to integrate an ICICI Bank savings account, a “demat” account for holding securities electronically and a trading account. Via the app, customers can trade stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, derivatives, currencies, bonds and fixed deposits, including those in overseas markets.
ICICI Direct can be described as a “virtual financial supermarket” offering access to investments, loans and insurance to a customer base ranging from retail investors, high-net-worth individuals, and institutional investors.
The ICICI Direct platform offers additional features, such as the Trade Racer desktop app, that provides active traders with streaming quotes and advanced algorithmic and automated trading tools. In addition, the “eATM” feature allows funds to be credited to a customer account within five minutes of selling a stock.
