Which private bank play should investors bank on?

SINGAPORE (Aug 11): Singapore’s three local banks – DBS Group Holdings, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and United Overseas Bank – have expanded regionally over the last couple of decades, putting them in a stronger position to gather onshore assets for their private banking and wealth management businesses.

In fact, earnings from the private banking and wealth management businesses of the three local banks have been soaring, which some analysts say will drive up their return on equity (ROE) ratios and justify higher price-to-book valuations for their stocks.

According to a report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the Singapore banks experienced private banking AUM growth of 15% to 16% annually from 2012 to 2016.

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