Topic 1 Wealth Management

Transcription

1 Topic 1 Wealth Management 1. Background Moderator: Hansjörg Germann, As Head of Strategy Development at Zurich, Mr. Germann is responsible for all aspects of the strategic asset allocation for the group s investment portfolio. Expert Panel: Rudolf Escher, He is the head of private banking APAC Switzerland with Credit Suisse. Thomas R. Meier, He is the head asia of the Julius Bär Group. Peter Huber, He holds the position of the CEO of Zurich Global Life Singapore. 2. Topics introduced by the speakers Rudolf Escher, Asia is the world s most dynamic region. The economic fundamentals of Asia are clearly better than the ones in Western Europe or the US. Asia has a strong GDP growth and compared to Europe quite high interest rates. In addition, Asia has comparatively healthy national balance sheets and a budget surplus. In conclusion, these facts point out that Asia maintains a strong wealth creation. In contrary, Europe focuses more on wealth protection and wealth persistence. Market overview: Asia Pacific will become the largest wealth market of the world in Its HNWI population grew by 9.4% to 3,7 million in It is the highest HNWI growth rate in the world. China and Japan combined account for 2/3 of Asian wealth. The boom in Asia has created enormous opportunities for wealth management. Because of Japans negative population growth and its aging population the creation of wealth is not as strong as in China. A strong GDP growth and an increasing savings ratio are two important factors that let the wealth of a country grow. China will remain strong in both factors and therefore be the leading country in new wealth creation. The highest shares of financial assets are located in the two financial hubs of Asia Hong Kong and Singapore. In the more emerging countries a lot of assets are still locked in real estate, companies, and closely held share positions. The two hubs, Singapore and Hong Kong, are strongly regulated financial centers. In general it is to be expected that the Asian financial markets will become more regulated in the next few years. The low penetration of the strongly growing HNWI market by the top 15 banks in Asia offers substantial opportunities for private banks and private banking boutiques. Entrepreneurs and business owners with complicated needs dominate the HNWI segment. Credit Suisse as an integrated private bank makes the whole value proposition accessible for clients by offering investment banking services, wealth management and also asset growth and wealth creation. This model helps to attract clients and relationship managers.

2 The competition for clients and talents such as relationship managers is intense in the Asian banking sector. This is mostly due to the fact that the pool of highly skilled relationship managers is relatively limited. The high competition drives up costs and therefore it is very important to hire and develop talent and build a talent pipeline for the future. Furthermore, a superior value proposition is crucial to success in Asia. Be aware that Singapore and the Philippines have a very high rate of family related companies and that implies that a large amount of wealth is hold by families who own these companies. China has a quite low percentage of family related companies because it has many large corporations. The structure mentioned above has an impact on the behavior of clients. The behavior of Asian clients is a first challenge that European banks face in Asia. The accumulated wealth of these clients is often first generational and not inherited like in Europe or especially Switzerland. As a result of that the Asian client wants to increase his/her wealth and is ready to take a certain risk to do so (high leverage is part of the game). The ability to extend loans and make your balance sheet available is very important when dealing with this type of clients. The European client is much more interested in wealth preservation and risk mitigation. Asian HNWI are entrepreneurs and want to make their investment decisions by themselves. The traditional Swiss model of advisory and delegation of these decisions does therefore not work in Asia. US Broker-Dealer Model: This model is led by brokerage and very sales push oriented. The brokers maintain a very tight relationship with the client and the clients usually stay with the brokers even when they go to another firm. The compensation is transaction based and there is just a moderate fixed income. This model results in a high volatility of earnings. Swiss Private Banking Model: This model is based on holistic advice and solutions. Typically the investments are spread over different asset classes (portfolio diversification). The brand of the bank is very important and the client uses different services of the bank (one-stop-concept). This results in a lower volatility of earnings as well as a lower cost-income ratio. Asia Private Banking Model: This model is in-between the two mentioned above. European banks have the lowest CI ratio and the highest pre tax margins. North American banks have the highest return on assets (ROA) but the CI ratios and pre tax margins are not very good. APAC wealth mangers have a rather low ROA and also the CI and pre tax margins are at the lower end. Efficiency improvement and larger book sizes per relationship manager can improve these measures. APAC will be under the impact of equity market swings in the future which gets it closer to the US Broker model. Conclusion: On one hand there are exiting opportunities waiting in Asia but on the other hand there are restrictive cross boarder rules. The Asian client wants to communicate with the bank via digital ways and the banks need to improve their technology to meet these needs. The existing business models tap only about 20% of the potential profits which leaves a lot of opportunities for private banks. To be successful in private banking in Asia, European banks have to remain investing in the financial hubs of Asia. At the same time they have to reduce complexity in the client segments and screen their product portfolio. Enhancing sales effectiveness and efficient cost management will give a bank a competitive advantage in Asia.

3 Thomas R. Meier, The challenge of doing business in Asia starts with the implementation. Merryll Lynch closed their branch in China and Morgan Stanley left India. It is not easy to survive in Asia as a bank. There are different challenges when it comes to private banking in Asia. First generation wealth: The fact that wealth in Asia is first generational is very fundamental. If you want to partner up with an Asian client you have to understand his needs, requests, believes and his mindset. The banks strategy has to be aligned with what the client expects form a financial partner. A global asset allocation will not work. A bank has to be able to bridge the gap - align their business decisions with the clients - also be able to align your business pace with that of the Asian market. Having a board meeting to take major credit decisions every two month is not fast enough. HNWI: The understanding of HNWI will be key when doing banking in Asia. Moreover it is important to understand the clients transaction oriented behavior. Since the Asian clients are entrepreneurs, they are risk takers and they are willing to take decisions quickly. The decision-making is very important to an entrepreneur and therefore delegation is not a favorable approach to that type of client. They are active clients. This is a fundamental difference between Europe and Asia. The bank has to be able to support such a behavior. Hedging of certain risk exposure is very important. As a consequence, successful banks have to build a framework (a structure) to proactively support their clients in Asia when developing new business and markets. Offshore/Onshore: Foreign banks in Asia have mainly offshore wealth management activities and therefore have to manage cross boarder relationships. Nowadays a lot of offshore banks deal with onshore wealth so they have to build onshore operations (business units) as well. It is essential to move certain operations closer to the client especially in strategic markets. The regulatory framework for onshore wealth management in China is very difficult. The liberalization of onshore wealth management is expected to happen soon. In order to overcome these difficulties and tap into these huge onshore potentials Julius Bär made a partnership agreement with the Bank of China to provide their clients with solutions onshore. The Julius Bär model: Julius Bär is a pure wealth managing private bank. From a wealth cycle perspective they cover the wealth management and the succession. It is a way of differentiation from the universal banks such as UBS or Credit Suisse since Julius Bär does not cover wealth creation. In order to serve the need of wealth creation Julius Bär acquired the Asian private banking division of Macquarie and at the same time negotiated a partnership with its investment bank. JB receives the private clients of Macquarie and forwards their clients who are interested in wealth creation to Macquarie. Julius Bär took the open architecture approach and is now in a position where it can select the right partners in the investment-banking field. Peter Huber The topic of this part is the general retirement challenges in Asia and the succession of wealth or where is the wealth going in the future. Overview: On one hand there is a high savings ratio (current account ratios) in Asia. On the other hand Asia s population is aging as fast as the one of developed countries. In 2050 the old generation (60+) will surpass the amount of young people in Asia. With wealth creation the health costs increase, living standards rise and people life longer. With a higher living standard people s labor participation decreases and they want to retire earlier in their lives. Another big challenge is that families are not as important as a decade ago and therefore the support of each other falls apart. Another challenge is the

4 fairly low interest rates (especially in South East Asia) plus the rising costs of health care resulting from private health care providers. Challenge: An interesting fact is that 30% of Singapore s population expects that they cannot afford to retire. There is no sustainable retirement solution in place. The inadequate pension coverage, resulting from low replacement rates (pension vs. your last drawn salary) is currently at 40% on average and it should be at 60% to 70%. The savings rate in Singapore is currently at 40% but needs to grow over 50% in order to cover their lack of pension funds. From an individual perspective not much is put a side for retirement. Asian people take out money from their retirement funds for health expenses or real estate investments. A big gap exists after people retire at the age of 62 because their life expectancy is at 78 to 82. Pension payments are not adjusted to rising costs of living. There are systems in place but they are neither efficient nor sufficient. Today, there is already a gap of to Singapore Dollars in pension money per person. The health care system of Singapore is still not sufficient. For many people it will still be too expensive and a new solution needs to be developed. Innovation: The health care industry has to find innovative solutions for the health insurance sector. The main point is to find tailored solutions for the population in Singapore. Today the distribution of insurance is still too expensive because it is mostly delivered through agencies. Protection will become affordable when it s distributed in the right way. Another factor is that people have to plan their retirement and retirement savings earlier in their lives. At this point, insurance companies have a duty for increasing financial literacy. Furthermore, insurance has to be more straightforward and accessible for everyone. The access for everyone can be enabled by using new technologies to get the right data about people. This allows a fair risk assessment and insurance companies can accept everyone. Through new technologies such as smart phones and tablets one can get insurance in a few minutes. This model has to be developed further. 3. Topics from panel discussion Swiss brand: Swiss companies have a very good reputation in Asia. But how can a Swiss private bank inherit the Swissness in the new local staff? It is of high importance that a bank does not copy a Swiss approach to an Asian clientele. The Asian client asks for different offerings and wants to do deals and trade. From a branding perspective the Swiss brand is still very good in the private wealth management as the Swiss brand stands for reliability, high quality standard, and qualified labor force. This image has to be preserved. The business model and the product offerings are very different from Switzerland. The value proposition is tailored to the local needs and demands. The transformation of the banks business model is very important and it is very important to build a network. Therefore highly skilled relationship managers are needed. Relationship managers (and to some extend also the Swissness) can be educated at own schools or campuses. Labor force fluctuation: How to deal with the high labor force fluctuation? Qualified staff is a very scarce resource in Asia. Through long term benefits (a good pension system for example) and the possibility of personal improvement the skilled labor force can be convinced to stay at your company.

5 Board education: In order to be really successful in Asia a bank has to educate the board at their HQ. Bringing them to Asia and let them experience the environment is a very good way of education. In that process the board members get to talk to clients, regulators and partners. They get a feeling of the pace, environment, and regulations of business. 4. Presentation and panel conclusion A lot of wealth is created and the population of HNWI will also be growing in the future. A bank can act as a universal bank (one stop-shop) and cover all positions of the wealth cycle or can focus only on private wealth management and take a partnership approach to include the wealth creation. Banks should not try to take the Swiss or US approach of private banking to Asia and implement it. Banks have to understand the needs and mindset of Asian clients. New business models are required because Asian clients have different needs. It is highly important that you educate your board in your Swiss HQ so that they really understand how the business works in Asia. Align your decision-making processes and business pace with the ones of the Asian market. All the creation of wealth in Asia provides huge opportunities for private banking companies. There are a lot of challenges when it comes to retirement and insurance in Asia. Health insurance is still not affordable and accessible for everyone so business model innovations and innovations of delivery channels are needed. This can be achieved by using new technologies. Furthermore insurance companies have a duty to educate Asian people about pension planning. Many Asian people use their retirement funds for real estate, health insurance or the education of their children. 5. Outlook: Open issues on the topic that remained unanswered or is worth monitoring going forward In the wealth management part it would be interesting to focus more on cross boarder regulations since these are a big challenge to be overcome by banks. In the part of insurance and retirement it would be interesting to elaborate how the state government of particularly Singapore or China can closely work together with insurance companies in order to foster health insurance. What is the most favorable system that gives everybody access to health insurance and at the same time is affordable and who has to execute which part (government, insurance companies, all other businesses). Editor: Tobias Glauser, University of St.Gallen