Private banking assets to jump by 30%

London: Private banking assets are set to grow on an average by a record 30% annually over the next three years, led by gains in Asia and Eastern Europe, according to a report by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).
Wealth management assets in Asia are forecast to grow on an average by about 34% annually, and by 30-50% a year in Russia, the New York-based company said on Friday. The figures are based on company managers’ forecasts for their own businesses.
“Wealth managers everywhere are anticipating extremely high rates of profitable growth,” PwC global head of private banking and wealth management Bruce Weatherill said in the statement.
Private banking profit margins are rising and will gain over the next three years, according to more than 50% of the finance directors surveyed in the report, PWC said.
Some of the world’s biggest wealth managers, including Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc., UBS AG, Deutsche Bank AG and Merrill Lynch & Co. are pushing private banking and asset management operations in emerging markets to counter slower growth in other units.
Most chief executive officers (CEOs) want to enter new private banking markets in the next two years and will consider acquisitions to do so, the report showed.
Private banking revenue in the Asia-Pacific region is forecast to grow on an average 37% annually by 2009, the PwC report found. That compares with a growth rate of 30% in the US and Latin America, and 22% in Europe, West Asia and Africa.
HSBC plans to open private banking offices in China, and push growth in India and West Asia to harness growing demand from wealthy customers. Merrill Lynch, the No. 3 securities firm, plans to double its network of financial advisers and its business in India this year to help it compete with overseas rivals.
The private banking operations of UK lenders are among their fastest-growing divisions by profit.