The former global head of DBS’ private banking arm has joined newly established wealth manager Azura as its Singapore branch chairman.
Lawrence Lua joins Azura as the chairman of its Singapore branch to lead the Southeast Asia business, according to a statement.
Lua has more than 35 years of banking, management and advisory experience, including eight years with DBS where he was last its global head of private banking before stepping down in December 2019 to assume the role of senior advisor to the bank. Previously, he also held senior private banking roles at Julius Baer, Merrill Lynch and Citibank.
Last year, he joined Singapore-headquartered multi-family office Maitri Asset Management as an advisory board member.
Singapore Expansion Plans
Azuara was founded in 2019 by ex-Julius Baer banker Ali Jamal with a focus on providing advisory and multi-family office services for ultra-high net worth individuals.
It opened its Singapore branch in 2020 with plans for the city-state to account for around one-third of its total headcount within the next few years. Globally, the firm has 40 employees across Singapore, London, Geneva and Monaco, of which more than 20 were hired since the start of 2021.
After starting Azura with around $2 billion of advisory assets under management in 2019, the firm has grown the amount to about $3 billion, according to the statement.
