80 Percent of Thai Wealth Held Onshore

Lombard Odier is bullish about its onshore partnership strategy in Thailand, claiming that 80 percent of high net worth wealth remains onshore with local banks.

The bank is bullish on Thailand’s wealth market, citing industry projections of 10-30 percent annual growth of high net worth individuals, depending on segmentation. Interestingly, the billionaire segment is expected to increase the fastest despite an ongoing U.S.-China trade war.

Growth is here, said Lombard Odier’s APAC CEO Vincent Magnenat, who expressed optimism regarding the bank’s benefits from its four-year-old partnership with major Thai lender Kasikornbank (Kbank).

Lombard Odier’s ventures into building onshore revenue lines have been supported not only by its investment capabilities but also through effective delivery to meet non-investment needs. According to Magnenat, the new generation of Thai entrepreneurs are increasingly demonstrating not only demand for professional investment management but also wealth planning and family or business governance needs.

Perfect wealth comes from a combination of wealth and happiness; customers can live a worry-free lifestyle by easing their concerns in the areas of maintenance and succession of wealth, said Jirawat Supornpaibul, head of Kbank’s private banking group in a local media report.

KBank’s private banking arm has assets under management of 760 billion Thai baht ($25 billion) with more than 11,000 clients and it estimates the latter to grow five percent annually.