Despite private banks setting up offices in key markets like China, India and Indonesia, “still Singapore is the private banking, wealth management centre in the Asia Pacific, without doubt,” he said.

Joseph Poon, head of the Macquarie Group’s newly-launched Asian private wealth business based in Singapore, said the city-state is the world’s fastest-growing private banking and wealth management centre.

In future, Singapore “will be one of only two global private banking and wealth management hubs, the other being Switzerland,” he added.

Asia’s HNWIs are generally self-made, second-generation entrepreneurs, who want a more hands-on role in how their finances are managed, private bankers said.

This compares with Europe, where a higher percentage of HNWIs have inherited their wealth and are likely to be more hands-off.

Singapore’s de facto central bank said that, compared with the rapid expansion over the past six years, the wealth management industry is likely to slow this year due to global financial turmoil.

But the pause should be mild compared with the equity markets, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in an April report.

Overall, Asia’s economic growth remains strong, and conducive for millionaires to flourish, wealth managers say.

“Not only are we seeing unprecedented wealth creation in Asia but the structure of the region’s economies have fundamentally changed,” said Didier von Daeniken, regional chief executive of Barclays Wealth.

“Education, technology and globalisation are driving wealth creation, resulting in a shift of economic power to the East.”

Wealth managed out of Singapore comes from clients worldwide, including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and as far away as Russia and Europe. Japan’s wealth is largely serviced domestically, industry figures said.

While rich Middle Easterners are traditionally served out of London and Switzerland, they are increasingly looking at investments in Asia as revenues from soaring oil prices fill their coffers, said Kreis of Credit Suisse.

An industry source, who asked not to be named, said the European Union’s moves to step up scrutiny of European tax havens could prompt wealthy Europeans to increasingly look at offshore banking centres in Asia such as Singapore and Hong Kong.

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