Singapore's largest bank reports full year results on February 8. Will its much-touted wealth unit keep up recent momentum? 

Latest results from Swiss heavyweights UBS and Credit Suisse exposed strong new money in-flows from the Asia Pacific region, so expectations are high that the domestic Asian bank will match its international peers in winning more regionally based wealth.

Piyush Gupta 500 copy

DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta (pictured above) has said he wants the wealth business, to contribute up to 20 percent of the bank's total income in the next few years, although he did not place an exact time on his aspiration. Tomorrow's results will indicate how close that wish is.

Tucked in Behind Morgan Stanley

DBS currently ranks sixth among the the biggest private banks in Asia-Pacific on finews.asia's latest AUM table. It is tucked in behind Morgan Stanley a firm at which DBS' Tan Su Shan, (pictured above) who runs the private and consumer bank, once practiced her trade.

Chatter among recruiters is that DBS is attracting a lot of attention from relationship managers of foreign private banks looking to join a bank tuned in to Asian needs. Many of them are fed up with head office being half a day away and seeing Asia as nothing more than a cash cow, according to sources. 

Reversing a Trend

Rob Ioannou

DBS has already attracted high profile hires from larger wealth rivals including ex-UBS heavyweight Joseph Poon and former co-head of HSBC private banking in Singapore Rob Ioannou (pictured above).

In the wake of demand from its wealthy Asian clients investing in Europe, the bank has also opened a London unit. This reversed the pattern of overseas wealth managers planting a flag in Hong Kong or Singapore. Other locations including Switzerland could be in the works.

Lawrence Lua, who is deputy private-banking head at Singapore's largest bank, said recently that DBS will increase its wealth unit staff by as much as 20 percent this year. The private banking team is 200 strong at present.