Singapore’s private banks are working to shorten account-opening times, and Citi’s Lee Lung Nien has warned that delays can drive wealthy clients to competitors, The Straits Times reported.
The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) said nearly half of new accounts at Private Banking Industry Group (PBIG) member banks opened within a month from June through August 2026. Most member banks had shortened their account-opening times since the end of 2025. PBIG aims to bring the median time at member banks within one month by year-end. Its May 25, 2026, release put the industry median at five to six weeks, with longer waits for more complex cases.
Lee, Citi’s country officer and banking head for Singapore, described cases lasting from one month to nine months, some ending unsuccessfully, The Straits Times reported. The newspaper also reported his examples of repeated requests for documents such as decades-old payslips. “If you don’t look after your client, someone else will,” Lee told the newspaper.
PBIG established the Account Opening Working Group in mid-2025, with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the private banking industry as co-chairs. ABS said banks were bringing technology into onboarding, calibrating wealth checks to risk and trimming redundant procedures.
In an Oct. 28 speech, MAS General Counsel Paul Yuen said the authority’s May 2026 guidance advised banks to corroborate material or higher-risk sources of wealth, avoid unnecessary document requests and examine material discrepancies. MAS said the approach is intended to make risk checks more effective while cutting avoidable time and expense.
MAS Chairman Gan Kim Yong said Singapore’s private banking client assets rose 15% from 2024 to 2025 and grew about 50% over the five years preceding Oct. 5, 2026. The next stated benchmark for the industry is PBIG’s year-end target for member banks’ median account-opening time.
