Citibank’s (NYSE: C) Singapore unit is positioning itself for growth from high net-worth individuals with investment portfolios between $1 million and $10 million in Asia with a new wealth management division.
The New York-based bank believes its Asian markets segment is likely to grow by between 15% and 20% during the next three to five years and is launching a new services to focus on these high net-worth individuals.
According to data from the 2009 Capgemini-Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report, Asia will overtake North America as the region with the most high net worth individuals in the world by 2013. The report said that the net-worth of the clients that Citigroup is targeting will grow by 12.8% annually.
Jonathan Larsen, head of Consumer Banking, Asia Pacific, Citibank, said: “The emerging affluent and high net worth segments are growing disproportionately to the economies in the region as wealth is concentrating and the US$1 million to US$10 million space, the high net worth space, is really a sweet spot, and it’s one that we’re very focused on.”
Mr Larsen added: “About half of the clients are business owners and half of them would be executives or employees or companies. So for the business owner segment, we see a tremendous opportunity for those clients who find it convenient to have both their business needs and their personal needs served from the same place with the same relationship manager who’s able to leverage the knowledge from one side to the other.”
