Singapore as a Financial Beacon: DBS Reaches Billion-Mark

DBS Private Bank, an integral part of Singapore's largest bank, DBS Group, is celebrating a remarkable milestone: its bank-backed multi-family office platform has reached assets under management of S$1 billion just two years after its launch and is targeting an ambitious goal of S$2 billion by the end of 2026. Family offices are private entities for high-net-worth families covering wealth management, taxes, and succession planning. Multi-family offices offer similar services for multiple families, utilizing shared resources. The impressive growth of the DBS Multi Family Office Foundry VCC (DBS MFO) underscores Singapore's attractiveness as a hub for family wealth, especially in times of increasing global uncertainty and market volatility. The platform enables wealthy families to create a Singaporean investment vehicle without having to establish their own family office. Lee Woon Shiu, Head of Wealth Planning, Family Office and Insurance Solutions at DBS Private Bank, emphasizes the speed of developments in recent months and highlights that the current climate of uncertainty and volatility is prompting many clients to expedite their decision-making. The S$1 billion in assets under management represents new investments, with clients hailing from Europe, India, Greater China, and Asia. DBS is in discussions with over 15 potential clients and plans to double the assets under management by 2026. Lee emphasizes that Singapore is perceived as an attractive financial center due to its predictability and transparency. Launched in 2023, DBS MFO has already integrated over 25 families with a minimum investment volume of S$15 million per sub-fund. It utilizes the umbrella Variable Capital Company (VCC) structure introduced in 2020. DBS MFO enables faster integration of families within one month, compared to traditional structuring of three to four months. The platform also attracts wealthy families from Taiwan, Japan, and the United Kingdom who wish to test Singapore as an investment location before potentially upgrading to a single-family office. DBS provides services for more than one-third of the single-family offices in Singapore and has more than doubled assets under management in this sector within the last two years.