Expanding our footprint across Asia – fostering strong ties with strategic alliances and driving sustainability for long-term growth

We believe the future of private banking is also onshore

In Asia, a large proportion of high net-worth and ultra-high net-worth assets are managed by the region’s local banks. A new era of transparency in Asian wealth management has also emerged with the current regulatory environment. Thus, we see a bright future for private clients staying onshore as they manage their wealth, hence our strategy to form strategic alliances with local financial institutions.

It is a unique model combining the investment and family services expertise of Lombard Odier and local financial institutions to holistically serve the wealth management needs of entrepreneurs and families onshore – a bespoke level of excellence tailored to meet their global investment and private banking needs.

We have received strong recognition for our strategic alliance model, having recently clinched the award for “Regional Partnership” at the 2021 WealthBriefingAsia Awards – one of five accolades for excellence that we picked up.

A win-win partnership through strategic alliances

A strategy that started in 2012, Lombard Odier has since established a strong network of strategic alliances in Asia with onshore financial institutions, including Kasikornbank Private Banking in Thailand, Indonesia’s Mandiri Private, Mizuho Securities (Singapore), Taipei Fubon Bank, and UnionBank Private Banking in the Philippines.

There are tangible benefits of being part of a collective ecosystem. To better engage and communicate with our clients across the region, we undertook a study in 2020 to understand the needs of UHNWIs with some of our strategic alliances, where findings were presented across four broad categories – technology, investment, sustainability and family services. The study enabled Lombard Odier and its strategic alliances help clients rethink their approach to their businesses, investments, families, sustainability – to rethink everything.

We see the strategic alliance model as a win-win for all parties. For private clients, the model allows them to engage in private banking services with a well-reputed bank in their home country that they are already familiar with, and yet gain access to our global investment management platforms and family services expertise.

For our strategic alliances, our expertise in family services and wealth management could be a differentiating factor in their own home markets; and for Lombard Odier, we get to develop our network in the region and tap on the local expertise and insights.

Sustainability a conviction that resonates

The benefit of a strategic alliance could also be measured through the transfer of knowledge on both sides, and one clear example is how we engage with these financial institutions on the subject of sustainability.

Lombard Odier has significantly expanded its expertise in the area of sustainability, with a specific focus on the climate transition, the circular economy, and other environmental issues. Aside from our internal resources, we have embarked on a partnership with Oxford University, and our consulting partner, Systemiq, to further explore and define these topics.

Through our strategic partnerships, we have been able to share our convictions on the direction and pace of the sustainability revolution. We routinely collaborate and share knowledge, including through events in Asia featuring our expert speakers. We also engage with our partners to provide; and engaged with them to provide opportunities for their clients in their local markets to invest globally in strategies that focus on sustainability themes such as the climate transition or the harnessing and preservation of natural capital.

As a family business with a long and outstanding track record in the wealth management space, we hold a long-term perspective in everything we do, and sustainability is at the very heart of Lombard Odier. This is reflected not only in our investment convictions, but also in our own business practices and objectives.

Sustainability is here to stay, and we are prepared.

Through findings of our 2020 UHNWI survey, it is clear that sustainability remains the core driver for investors - 89% of survey participants believe that sustainability trend is here to stay.

The climate transition is one of the most pressing sustainability issue in the world today, and the transition to a net-zero carbon footprint is likely to be one of the most important industrial and technological revolution of all time.

As the world races towards a net zero economy, we are convinced that this transition will reshape markets and businesses. We have developed strategies that provide the opportunities to invest in companies that leverage the regenerative power of nature or capture the transition to net zero, along with specific climate expertise to help clients understand the impact of their portfolios.

We can see significant opportunities for green growth across Asia, and our role as investors means we manage these risks for our clients and take advantage of these opportunities.

¹ The Wealth Report, Knight Frank, 2021