Lombard Odier, the Swiss private bank, has grown substantially in Asia over the past year and now needs larger premises to cope with the bigger number of clients.

Lombard Odier's representatives in Singapore were exceptionally open and talkative for a bank that takes pride in being discreet. The bank hasn't yet published the 2016 result.

But Asia boss Vincent Duhamel said that the company achieved double-digit growth in respect to earnings in the region.

The Geneva-based bank has a staff of 130 at offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo – a quarter of which are relationship managers. Assets under management represented by Asia accounts are under 10 percent of the bank's total of 223 billion francs.

Long-Term Perspective

Vincent Magnenat, the manager in charge of the Singapore office, has four explanations for the healthy development. First: The bank has a long-term perspective and doesn't endlessly try to push new products to boost transaction volumes. It prefers to get discretionary mandates instead, which today amount to about 60 percent of the portfolios in the region.

Second: Lombard Odier has changed its approach in markets such as Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, China, Australia and Japan. Today it is looking for partners with little or no experience with rich clients, ie no private-banking expertise. In those partnerships, Lombard Odier is providing the necessary know-how and the products.

The bank aims to continue working along this strategy – one example of which is the cooperation with Kasikornbank in Thailand.

Natural Partner for Families

Third: Lombard Odier sees itself as a natural partner for rich families, not least because the bank itself has been run by family owners for seven generations. «Our memory is our experience,» said Duhamel at the briefing.

Fourth: The Geneva-based bank, founded in 1796, two decades ago started to invest a lot of money into its IT. The division achieved a technological level that allows the bank to sell its infrastructure solutions to other companies – also in Asia, according to Magnenat. It has a team of specialists managing the «Technology Bank Infrastructure» (TBI) division in Asia.

Here to Stay

The bank's success instilled a sense of optimism among staff – not least because Lombard Odier clearly expects this to last. The company urgently is looking for additional office space in Singapore.

It currently has its premises at Republic Plaza Tower on Raffles Place. «We have far too few rooms to meet our customers,» Magnenat said. And the bank at the same time is seeking to hire further relationship managers as it keeps expanding its business.