Singapore banks’ battle for wealth talent goes beyond private bankers

[SINGAPORE] Singapore’s wealth management hiring race is spreading beyond private bankers, as demand increasingly spills over into technology, investment, compliance and risk roles that support their expanding client-facing teams.

Still, competition for experienced relationship managers remains intense, with local and international banks vying for a limited pool of bankers with established client networks and a track record of generating revenue.

But recruiters said the expansion of banks’ wealth franchises is also driving a second wave of hiring across the functions that support these bankers, from client onboarding and investment products to technology and regulatory compliance.

“Once you get the relationship managers and you raise the assets, they then need to hire on the product side,” said James Diggines, managing director for global financial services at executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates.

Russell Reynolds’ hiring activity for technology roles supporting wealth management rose by a mid-teens percentage over the past year, spanning searches from chief technology officer positions to director-level roles below them.

Christopher Poh, a director and wealth and fintech lead at executive search firm Ethos BeathChapman, estimated that a private bank seeking to recruit 50 relationship managers would need about 30 additional middle and back-office employees.

The hiring push comes as DBS, OCBC and UOB expand their wealth franchises across Asia.

OCBC plans to hire 600 relationship managers for its consumer banking business over three years, while UOB aims to double wealth income to at least S$2.5 billion by 2030. DBS, meanwhile, plans to open 18 wealth centres and upgrade 36 others across six Asian markets by end-2027.

Finite talent pool

The intensifying competition has also exposed a talent shortage, particularly in technology, recruiters said.

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Diggines said banks often had to search across Singapore and Hong Kong – and, in some cases, the UK and US – for technology leaders with wealth management expertise.

Where candidates with direct wealth experience were unavailable, banks could recruit technology professionals from fixed-income, equities or broader global-markets businesses and move them into wealth roles.

“The skill set of people that are strong in tech and know wealth is quite small,” he said.

Maira Jamall, senior consultant for banking and financial services at Robert Walters Singapore, said banks were also becoming more open to candidates from family offices and asset managers, particularly those with strong client engagement skills or specialised investment expertise.

Competition, meanwhile, remains fierce on the relationship manager front.

Adrian Teo, managing director and market group head for Asean at Bank of Singapore (BOS), said it had intensified as the three local banks and international players stepped up their wealth ambitions.

“The pool of talent is definitely finite,” he said, with “good bankers” particularly difficult to dislodge when they are performing well at their current institutions.

“If they are doing well in their current organisation, that means they are enjoying it, they’re thriving – there’s very little incentive for them to move,” he explained.

The shortage is especially acute for relationship managers serving offshore markets, as more overseas assets flow into Singapore.

Poh said banks now need to recruit two or three bankers from China, Hong Kong or Taiwan for every 10 relationship managers serving Greater China clients. Four or five years ago, Singapore’s local talent pool was sufficient, he noted.

Banks are also looking overseas for relationship managers serving Indonesian, Vietnamese and Thai clients, given the limited pool in Singapore with the required language skills and understanding of local cultural norms, he added.

Platform over pay

Banks still need to make a move financially worthwhile, though recruiters differed on how sharply compensation expectations had risen.

Poh said strong bankers might now seek base-salary increases of 30 to 35 per cent to move, up from around 20 to 25 per cent previously.

Banks paying above-market rates could expect them to deliver within six months – or risk being let go, he added.

Others reported more modest increases.

Teo said candidates expected higher compensation when changing jobs, but the amounts were not significantly different from previous years.

Robert Walters’ Jamall said expectations had edged up, while Russell Reynolds’ Diggines had not seen a large rise in total compensation.

Compensation, however, is not the only battleground.

Candidates are increasingly scrutinising whether a prospective employer has the platform and resources to support their business, including the ability to open accounts and onboard clients efficiently, the recruiters said.

At BOS, Teo said onboarding had become an increasingly common concern among candidates, as delays could affect how quickly a newly hired banker begins generating business.

The private bank has sought to strengthen its proposition through a new, transparent compensation framework launched earlier this year, alongside the use of artificial intelligence to improve onboarding, he said.

Diggines pointed to internal research by Russell Reynolds which found that compensation was only the fourth-most important consideration for wealth candidates.

The bank’s platform ranked first, followed by the scope and scale of the role, and its people and culture.

“If one, two and three line up, then more often than not, you’ve got a good chance of finding the right dowry to make the marriage happen,” he said.

Jamall similarly said candidates were paying greater attention to platform strength, investment capabilities, technology, stability and career progression.

“Compensation remains important, but it is no longer the only deciding factor,” she said.

Ethos BeathChapman’s Poh found that bankers are placing more weight on their teams and working environment than on brand name alone, prompting some to consider boutique and smaller players.

A banker moving to a large global institution, for instance, may find that many clients already have accounts there, reducing the amount of fresh assets that can be transferred, he said.

Demand to stay firm

Recruiters differed on how much competition will intensify further over the next 12 months.

Poh expects demand to continue rising, while Jamall expects competition to remain strong but “disciplined”.

“Rather than broad-based hiring sprees, we expect demand to stay focused on experienced professionals,” added Jamall.

Diggines said relationship manager hiring may remain broadly steady as some banks shift from expansion towards optimising their existing teams.

The next phase of growth, he said, may come increasingly from the technology, legal, risk and compliance functions needed to support the wealth platforms banks have already built.