DBS and OCBC are pursuing new services for affluent clients in Singapore, while separate government data show household liabilities grew faster than net worth during the second quarter of 2026.
Under a June plan, DBS would add 18 wealth centers and upgrade 36 existing sites across Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China, India, Indonesia and Taiwan. The bank said its DBS Treasures footprint in Singapore would grow 50%.
DBS announced in August that it planned to add more than 600 relationship managers, frontline advisers and platform engineers by the end of 2028. Customers need S$350,000 in investible assets to meet the DBS Treasures requirement in Singapore. DBS Group Head of Consumer Banking Sanjoy Sen said clients want a relationship that feels “personal, familiar and close to home.”
DBS reported wealth-management income of S$5.68 billion in 2025, up 9%. The bank’s annual report cited record net-new-money inflows and fee income as supports for the result. Its Consumer Banking/Wealth Management segment recorded S$6.1 billion in net interest income, down 6% from 2024. DBS linked the decline to lower interest rates and pressure on deposit margins.
OCBC introduced its WoW app in July, presenting it as a digital wealth service with AI avatars Wendy and Wayne. The bank said the tool was intended to encourage investing through OCBC and build a larger role in customers’ financial activity. Its beta plan described invited employees and customers served by Premier Private Client advisers; customer invitees needed at least S$1.5 million under management. OCBC said it would announce a date for a wider rollout.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said the asset-management industry’s assets under management rose 10.1% in 2025 to S$6.7 trillion. More than 2,000 single-family offices received tax incentives as of the end of December 2025.
Separately, the Singapore Department of Statistics reported that household liabilities grew 8.3% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, while net worth rose 6.8%. Mortgage and personal loans drove much of the increase in liabilities. The figures cover the household sector and do not show how wealth is distributed among individuals or percentiles. DBS’s announced targets run through the end of 2027 for the center changes and the end of 2028 for hiring.
