BARCLAYS Plc plans to more than double its private-banking headcount in Singapore to drive growth in clients’ assets in fast-expanding Asian markets, according to the chief executive of private banking and wealth management.
Asia contributed to the British bank’s 30% growth in wealthy clients’ assets over the past two years, Sasha Wiggins said in an interview in Singapore. She declined to specify a number for the region or its existing headcount.
"We will be looking to deliver double-digit client asset and liability growth from the region in line with our business overall,” Wiggins said. "We see Singapore and the Middle East, in particular, as two very strong growth markets for us over the coming two to three years,” she added.
Barclays this week restarted operations at its Singapore booking center, making the facility its second one in Asia after India, following the sale of its private banking assets in the city-state and Hong Kong in 2016. This marked the lender’s full return to the wealth hub, which is vying with Hong Kong for rich clients as the Middle East war drags on and global turbulence persists.
The lender has kept its corporate and investment banking businesses in Singapore throughout, and rebuilt its private-bank business in the Southeast Asian hub about five years ago.
"One of the reasons why we chose to reopen our booking center in Singapore was to better serve our corporate banking and investment banking clients,” Wiggins said. A rising number of family offices in Singapore also makes it attractive for Barclays to offer services from its corporate and investment banking expertise, she added.
Barclays chief executive officer CS Venkatakrishnan has said he wants the private banking and wealth business to become a bigger part of the firm. In 2024, he laid out a strategy that increases focus on those businesses to boost growth. At £230bil (US$311bil), the lender’s wealth assets are much smaller than global competitors including HSBC Holdings Plc and Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings Ltd.
A Singapore beachhead may help the UK bank accelerate that goal as the Asian safe-haven draws the wealthy from around the world. The city-state reported total assets under management of S$6.68 trillion (US$5.2 trillion) in 2025, up 10% from a year earlier. The trio of local banks led by DBS have notched record profit in the last few years, with their share prices hitting new highs, thanks to wealth inflows.
Meanwhile, Barclays is still in search of a successor for Evonne Tan, the bank’s Singapore wealth chief who left for Schroders Wealth Management in April, Annabelle Bryde, head of private bank international said in the interview. Alexander Harrison, Singapore country head, is also filling in as interim private banking head.
To open an account, private-bank clients need to have at least £5mil but average assets under management per account are much higher, said Bryde.
Asked whether the bank will also get back to Hong Kong, Wiggins said she is always considering other jurisdictions but for now,
"Singapore is strategically important and we need to double down and grow this business,” she added. - Bloomberg
