RBS Coutts to ramp up hires after exodus
RBS COUTTS may look to speed up its hiring plans in Asia after 70 staff staged a co-ordinated mass exodus from the private bank.
The group of staff at the Singapore office of Royal Bank of Scotland’s private bank left simultaneously and many are now expected to join Swiss rival BSI.
The departures come just a few months after the exit of the unit’s former co-chief executive Hanspeter Brunner and head of its South Asia unit Raj Sriram, both of whom are now to join BSI.
A spokesman for the bank yesterday blamed the departures on the volatility of the jobs market in private banking.
She said RBS Coutts was still planning to hire 200 new staff over the next five years, but conceded that the bank would be “opportunistic” about taking on even more talent in the wake of the recent departures.
She dismissed suggestions that meagre bonus payouts were a motivation for the exodus saying that the bank had “made it clear that we’re paying market-compatible packages”.
“If that pay is an issue, we’re not aware of it,” she added.
The spokesman would not confirm whether staff were set to join BSI, but admitted that “new players always look to names like us for sourcing talent”.
RBS Coutts lost about 28 per cent of its Singapore headcount and 15 per cent of its Asia staff in the co-ordinated resignation, but said the walkout would not disrupt its plans to double its assets over the next five years.
The bank manages around Sfr17bn (£10.4bn) in assets, but lags behind rivals such as Citigroup and UBS, which dominate wealth management in the region.
The fight for staff comes as Singapore’s importance as an international wealth management centre rises and top banks seek to secure a presence there.
Increased interest in Asian private banking has seen a tug-of-war develop for private banking assets put up for sale by Dutch bank ING, which is hoping to use the proceeds of any deal to repay state aid.
HSBC is understood to be leading the race for the units, but faces competition from Singaporean bank OCBC.