Bank of Singapore enters into strategic agreement with Vontobel

Bank of Singapore has signed a strategic agreement with Swiss asset manager Bank Vontobel to allow its Asian UNHW and HNW customers to place their assets in the Vontobel’s booking centre in Zurich.

The agreement will allow Bank of Singapore’s clients with access to the Swiss wealth manager’s extensive range of European financial products and services. They will also have the option of choosing Vontobel or Bank of Singapore to manage their assets booked in Zurich.

Bank of Singapore global market head of Singapore, International, Thai and Indo-China Olivier Denis said: “This agreement is designed to meet increasing interest from Asian clients to have their assets in custody in Switzerland on top of our current booking centres in Singapore and Hong Kong.

“With this new capability, we are one of the few Asian private banks to be able to offer booking services for our clients in three of the leading global financial hubs – Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland. This further strengthens Bank of Singapore’s position as Asia’s Global Private Bank.

“This tie-up with Vontobel to offer best-in-class European financial solutions is in line with Bank of Singapore’s strategy to work with a global network of providers, such as BlackRock and BlackStone, to offer world-class products and services as they continue to seek for yield in today’s uncertain environment,” Denis added.

Vontobel head of external asset managers Brian Fischer said: “This cooperation is a further milestone in our international expansion of our global business offering to financial institutions. International diversification of wealth is enjoying increasing acceptance in many foreign markets and in particular in Asia, which still represents a growth market for asset management.

“By combining the strengths of our organizations, Bank of Singapore clients will automatically enjoy an improved and expanded service offering. The cooperation represents an example for a smart way to offer best know-how in foreign markets by a local expert, which is a model case, also for other markets for Vontobel.”