Singaporean bank DBS, in collaboration with regtech start-up FinChat, has introduced a new service for its wealth customers that will enable them to interact with their relationship managers through WhatsApp and WeChat.

Analyze opportunies within the wealth management market in APAC
- The report analyzes the APAC wealth and retail savings and investments markets. This includes affluent market size, both by number of individuals and the value of their liquid assets.
- The affluent population grew by 5.3% in 2021 and is expected to grow at an AAGR of 4.8% between 2022 and 2026.
- The value of liquid assets held by the affluent segment surged by 8.4% in 2021, backed by economic recovery. HNW individuals’ financial wealth grew by 12%, while mass affluent individuals’ wealth grew by 6.0%.
- The report provides an analysis of factors driving liquid asset growth. It is also split into asset classes - equities, mutual funds, deposits, and bonds.
- The affluent population are more risk-tolerant and invest a significant proportion of their investments in risky assets such as equities, compared to emerging affluent and mass market individuals.
Dubbed DBS Wealth Chat, the new service will be initially used to share investment reports and research insights. It plans to offer other services such as trade placement next year. DBS is said to be the first in Southeast Asia to offer this service.
Clients planning to use the service can get their relationship managers register for a private chat group. The record of interactions initiated through the new service will be archived.
Currently, interactions with RMs and their clients take place and are recorded on phone.
The new chat service through instant messaging platforms is expected to save around 10,000 man hours annually. The service is also said to abide by compliance standards.
DBS group head of consumer banking and wealth management Tan Su Shan said: “We recognise that customers today are inundated with different apps and services and decided to go where our customers already are – WhatsApp has upwards of 1.5 billion users, while WeChat has close to one billion users.
“Our aim is to provide banking services that are embedded in our customers’ everyday lives, while maintaining client privacy and keeping to our rigorous security requirements. With DBS Wealth Chat, we can now meet both the communication needs of our clients and regulatory requirements.”

Analyze opportunies within the wealth management market in APAC
- The report analyzes the APAC wealth and retail savings and investments markets. This includes affluent market size, both by number of individuals and the value of their liquid assets.
- The affluent population grew by 5.3% in 2021 and is expected to grow at an AAGR of 4.8% between 2022 and 2026.
- The value of liquid assets held by the affluent segment surged by 8.4% in 2021, backed by economic recovery. HNW individuals’ financial wealth grew by 12%, while mass affluent individuals’ wealth grew by 6.0%.
- The report provides an analysis of factors driving liquid asset growth. It is also split into asset classes - equities, mutual funds, deposits, and bonds.
- The affluent population are more risk-tolerant and invest a significant proportion of their investments in risky assets such as equities, compared to emerging affluent and mass market individuals.