Private banks facing crunch time in Asia

Times are tough for Asia’s wealth management industry, and those firms that cannot adapt to new realities look set to fall by the wayside or be swallowed up by rivals. Facing rising costs, narrowing margins and competition from independent boutiques and family offices, many private banks must change their business models, note industry players. A central problem is that most of the income for Asian private banks comes from brokerage and leverage provision, rather than advisory or …