SINGAPORE: A Feb 25 (Wednesday) Bloomberg report said that S$77 billion in new money was poured into OCBC, DBS, and UOB in 2025.
The influx came from ultra-high-net-worth individuals from other parts of Asia, who have chosen to place their assets in Singapore amid the strained relationship between the United States and China, tensions across the globe, including the Middle East and Europe, and China’s uneven growth, the report explained.
Singapore’s three biggest banks recently reported an increase in new money inflows, showing how much their wealth assets under management (AUM) have grown in the past year.
United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB) says its net new money increased by $11 billion in 2025, and its high-net-worth AUM is now at $201 billion.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC)’s net new money has gone up by a substantial 30 per cent in the past year to $27 billion. The bank’s AUM is now at a record $343 billion.
DBS Group Holdings Ltd, meanwhile, said its net new money grew by $39 billion, making its wealth AUM now $488 billion.
“The figures highlight how Singapore’s lenders are relying more on wealth fees as loan margins narrow. That shift towards more wealth and investment products boosted the banks’ wealth management fee, which rose 33 per cent at OCBC and 29 per cent at DBS last year,” Bloomberg reported.
All three banks have already released reports for their earnings for the last quarter of 2025. DBS and UOB have reported lower net profits for the quarter, as well as for the full year.
DBS net profit for 2025 fell by 3 per cent to S$11 billion. UOB, meanwhile, saw a 23 per cent drop year-on-year for its 2025 performance, to around S$4.6 billion dollars.
OCBC, meanwhile, saw a 3 per cent rise in profits for the fourth quarter of 2025. However, its full-year earnings saw a dip of 2 per cent, down from the record high it saw the previous year.
In June 2024, DBS Group announced an ambitious goal of increasing its wealth management assets to S$500 billion (US$369.7 billion) by the end of 2026, according to its Executive and Group Head of Consumer Banking Group and Wealth Management, Shee Tse Koon.
The bank, Singapore’s biggest bank and Southeast Asia’s largest by assets, reported a 23 per cent increase in its wealth assets in 2023, reaching a record S$365 billion.
The growth was attributed to Singapore’s appeal as a financial hub due to its political stability, favourable tax regime, and supportive policies for establishing family offices and trusts. The nation has seen significant wealth inflows, bolstering its status as a safe haven in Asia. /TISG
