Growth from the ultra-high net worth sector of its service has led the Bank of Singapore to seek help with its product capabilities. They added a new head of bespoke investments to ease the pressure in managing the Greater China and North Asian areas as well as to develop parts of their business that they may have undermanned.

Kelvin Teo is the new head of bespoke investments. He is thrust into the Hong Kong-based Bank of Singapore to help in creating new investment opportunities unique and exclusive to UNHW clients in the Greater China and Northern Asian region, according to FiNews Asia. He will be reporting to Hong Kong branch CEO Derrick Tan, who is also global market head of the Greater China and North Asia division.

Teo's most recent work was as director of equity capital markets for Credit Suisse, a work that he did similarly in Hong Kong. His role was to facilitate the origination of capital market transactions for corporate and institutional clients, a vaguely similar role to the one he stepped into. His 15 years in investment banking is a big help towards creating investment opportunities for the bank's many UNHW clients.

Singapore's banks appear to be in a resurgence of sorts, taking analysts and pundits by surprise as it posted a strong second quarter performance in managing clients' wealth. Business Times SG reported that a trio of Singapore banks posted higher assets under management from UNHW clients in the second quarter this year, climbing up by 8-9% from the same period last year.

The trio are also dependent on the performance of this service as a "driver of fees income." Citi Research data showed that fees related to wealth management during the first half of this year was responsible for 37% of DBS Bank's core fees; 48% fueled OCBC Bank's core fees, and 35% drove UOB's core fees.

Part of the growth in wealth management appears to come from the Singapore banks' expansion into the region. As more Asian entrepreneurs-mostly from the startup sector, expectedly-build their "regional empires," these banks will ride along with the wave of their growth.

The Bank of Singapore has doubled the number of its clients since 2017, following the growth of its client segment to 40%. The UNHW segment is just one facet of its business that is growing; the Bank is also boosting its business in Greater China to nearly triple of its assets in five years.