(7 April 2016 – Asia) OCBC Bank has bought Barclays' private bank business in Hong Kong and Singapore, pushing it within a whisker of bigger rival DBS Bank in the wealth management stakes.
The US$320 million cash deal will be OCBC's third bank-related acquisition within 10 years as it bulks up in a very costly industry where size matters.
Earlier this week, OCBC announced that its private banking unit, Bank of Singapore (BOS), has agreed to buy the wealth and investment management business of Barclays Bank at a price set at 1.75 percent of Barclays assets under management (AUM), which stood at US$18.3 billion at the end of last year.
Bank of Singapore’s AUM will increase to around US$73.3 billion when the deal is completed by year’s end. Currently, its major competitor, DBS has approximately US$75 billion AUM making it the sixth largest private bank in Asia.
In a statement, the bank said: “The acquisition of Barclays WIM Singapore and Hong Kong furthers OCBC Bank's strategic goal of deepening its presence in its four core markets – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greater China – and particularly in its wealth management business.”