http://business.scotsman.com/royalbankofscotland/Our-bonuses-arent-big-enough.5730084.jp
'Our bonuses aren't big enough' – mass exodus of RBS Singapore staff
CAPS on bonuses have been blamed for a mass exodus of staff from the international arm of Royal Bank of Scotland.
More than 70 people have quit RBS Coutts' office in Singapore, accounting for more than one in four of its workforce there.
The departures follow plans by the bank to introduce curbs on bonuses along similar lines to new restrictions in the UK.
Some 20 managers and 50 support staff have left, and the speculation is
that they defected to rivals, as competition for staff intensifies.
Banks are vying to tap into the growth in the number of millionaires in
Asia – their wealth is forecast to grow by nearly 10 per cent a year
over the next decade.
RBS Coutts employs 500 people and manages more than £10 billion in Asia – nearly one-third of its total funds.
One banking analyst said the cuts in bonuses had come as
wealth-management firms in Asia were competing for staff, adding: "If
you are an ambitious Asian wealth manager, why would you go and work
for any British bank?"
A former banker with RBS Coutts said: "It's about the money – it's always about the money in private banking."
The departures come weeks after RBS Coutts' co-chief executive
Hanspeter Brunner left to head Asian operations for Swiss bank BSI in
Singapore.
Raj Sriram, head of RBS Coutts' South Asia unit, is also reported to have left to join BSI, with other staff joining him.
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.
One industry expert said the exodus from RBS Coutts reflected the state
of the private banking industry in Asia. Roman Scott, managing director
of private equity firm Calamander Capital in Singapore, said: "Sadly,
the Asian private bank market remains a market that depends on raiding
existing, mature business and mature relationship managers from other
banks.
"There is a continued, dire shortage of experienced, mature managers."
RBS Coutts has given no reason for the resignations, but a company
source said the bank paid "market competitive" rates to its staff.
The source said RBS Coutts had had 700 applications after job
advertisements for posts in Singapore and Hong Kong, which showed "the
company is also attracting people to it".
An RBS Coutts spokeswoman in Zurich said the bank had launched a
five-year expansion plan and was "aggressively" recruiting more staff,
with 200 new "hires" targeted at Asia, in addition to replacing those
that had left.
It is understood there is a much greater staff turnover among banks in
Asia than in the UK. The RBS source said: "It seems to be more normal
there for chunks of people to move from one to another."
He added when senior staff left, it was likely others would follow them to another bank.
Bank whose origins date back more than three centuries
RBS Coutts is a sister company to London-based Coutts & Co, banker to the Queen.
The Zurich-based operation is the group's international private banking
arm, combining Coutts and the former Bank von Ernst of Switzerland,
which Royal Bank of Scotland acquired in 2003.
Coutts' origins date back to 1692 – even further back than RBS's, in
1727. Bank von Ernst is a relative newcomer – it was founded in 1869.
Clients of Coutts and Bank von Ernst have included Charles Dickens,
Charles Darwin and Frederic Chopin.
RBS acquired Coutts as part of its takeover of NatWest in 2000.
NatWest had bought Swiss bank Handelsbank – formerly the Bank für
Industrie und Unternehmungen in Zurich – in 1975 and changed its name
to Coutts Bank (Switzerland) in 1997.
This merged with Bank von Ernst in 2003 and was renamed Coutts Bank von Ernst the following year.
Since January last year, the bank has operated under the name RBS Coutts.
RBS Coutts has branches in Geneva, Bern and Lugano, in Switzerland, as
well Singapore and Hong Kong. It also has a representative office in
Montevideo, Uruguay. It manages assets of £26.6 billion for 36,348
clients.
Coutts & Co was founded by Scottish goldsmith-banker John Campbell
in London, and his customers included his clan chief, the powerful Duke
of Argyll.
It amalgamated with the National Provincial & Union Bank of England
in 1919, which merged with the Westminster Bank in 1969 to form NatWest.
Coutts & Co manages £36.7bn worth of assets for 71,343 clients.
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