The recent fighting in the Middle East has accentuated Singapore’s status as a safe haven, with anecdotal reports of wealthy individuals moving cash previously parked in Dubai over. Total Singapore deposits increased by 7.2% y-o-y to $2.1 trillion in March, up by $66.2 billion. The three banks reported a total of $52 billion y-o-y deposit growth in 1Q2026. DBS Group Holdings and United Overseas Bank’s (UOB) deposits rose by 9% each to $19 billion and $17 billion, respectively, while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation’s (OCBC) deposits rose 10% y-o-y to $16 billion.
During the quarter, DBS reported $10 billion in net new money in its wealth management, and OCBC recorded $5 billion. Wealth management is now a focus for UOB, and it reported a modest $1 billion in net new money in 1Q2026.
Paradoxically, the flow of funds has become another reason for banks here to pursue fee income more actively. “The safe haven flows are increasing the liquidity in the banking and financial system, and containing or reducing interest rates across the yield curve,” state Maybank economists Chua Hak Bin and Brian Lee.
Among the banks, OCBC has the largest wealth business with income of $5.06 billion for the FY2025 ended Dec 31, 2025. Excluding its insurance arm, the bank is still raking in more than a respectable $3.88 billion. Last year, DBS generated $2.81 billion in wealth management income, while UOB brought in $1.28 billion.
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UOB to double wealth management income by 2030
While OCBC and DBS have been focused on driving wealth income for some time, UOB, for the first time, indicated its goal of doubling its wealth management income from its 2025 figure by 2030. The target was announced by UOB’s deputy chairman and CEO Wee Ee Cheong at the bank’s 1QFY2026 results briefing on May 7.
“Our ambition is clear, to double wealth income by 2030 through discipline, organic execution, platform, people and solution,” Wee said, noting that the space has grown increasingly competitive. UOB’s net fee and commission income from its wealth management business grew by 18% y-o-y from $698 million in FY2024 to $822 million in FY2025.
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While UOB is the laggard among the three banks, it is looking to leverage its customer base of more than eight million. The acquisition of Citi’s consumer banking franchise in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam added 7.9 million customers to UOB’s customer base. Including attrition, the customer base has now grown to 8.5 million; of this, current accounts and savings accounts (Casa) penetration is 66%. Wee believes that this expanded customer base will help to jumpstart the bank’s wealth management ambitions.
“[Our] relationship managers will target new customers, but my existing customer base is over eight million. This is where the low-hanging fruit is and this is why we are very, very confident,” Wee told reporters on May 7. “The next few quarters, I cannot tell you the number, [but] we will definitely increase the AUM [assets under management].”
Notably, Wee says that UOB will not chase growth blindly. For him, winning customer loyalty and building up a long-term relationship is more important than squeezing them for fee income.
“We are conservative. We want to protect our customers,” Wee says. “You don’t just ask them [and] take [their] money, because today the environment is very uncertain. I would rather they be safe. We can earn less fees, but I want them to be safe. When opportunity comes? This is where the potential is.”
Wee did not rule out future acquisitions to grow UOB’s wealth business. However, he noted that prices would likely be high given the heightened interest in wealth management among banks today. Group CFO Leong Yung Chee says that when it comes to acquisitions, UOB won’t just consider a target’s price, but also whether it aligns with the bank’s overall strategy.
“It’s not just a dollar price,” Leong says. “Don’t forget, there’s also integration costs. Going forward, do you think the cost synergies and revenue synergies are going to make sense for you? So, the calculation isn’t just about the transaction price, but the cost of the entire project itself has to make sense.”
PhillipCapital’s Glenn Thum believes the bank’s 2030 target is “possible”. “2HFY2026[’s] numbers will show if UOB is on the right track,” he says.
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At the moment, however, the widening wealth franchise gap and weak fee momentum remain headwinds. During the quarter, UOB’s AUM stood at $198 billion, versus DBS’s $492 billion and OCBC’s $342 billion.
Morningstar’s Kathy Chan believes UOB’s wealth income, currently a “relatively small contributor”, would make up 15% of its total revenue in 2030. Following UOB’s target, Chan has increased her non-interest income growth estimates for FY2026 to FY2030 to 6% from 5% previously.
RHB Bank Singapore’s Singapore research team believes the bank’s efforts to grow its wealth income should “lead to improved contributions, while the wholesale pipelines look strong”.
OCBC: Gunning for double-digit growth
Wealth is a key pillar of newly minted OCBC group CEO Tan Teck Long’s strategy for the bank. Tan, who took over as CEO from Helen Wong in January, was group chief risk officer at DBS before he joined OCBC in 2022 as head of global wholesale banking. Tan unveiled OCBC’s new corporate strategy at the bank’s FY2025 results briefing on Feb 25.
As part of Tan’s “The Next Frontier” strategy, OCBC is looking to deliver a “Whole of Wealth” solution across banking, wealth and insurance through the twin wealth hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong.
OCBC has set its sights on Asean as well. Specifically, Tan wants to leverage Great Eastern Malaysia’s ecosystem to expand the bank’s customer base in the country. In addition, he is looking to grow OCBC Indonesia’s wealth management services.
“Although we have more than 200 branches in Indonesia, we don’t think it is sufficient [to] cover the marketplace,” Tan told reporters on Feb 25.
“We aim to extend our OCBC Indonesia services to the wealth customers, to move them to the higher end of the wealth spectrum as part of our whole wealth strategy to help OCBC Indonesia differentiate its value proposition as it moves up to the higher end of the wealth spectrum.”
That strategy became much clearer on May 4, when OCBC announced it was acquiring HSBC Indonesia’s international wealth and premier banking portfolio (IWP) for a $480 million premium. As part of the sale, $6.6 billion in AUM will be transferred to OCBC Indonesia.
The assets include $4.3 billion in customers’ investments in mutual funds, bonds and insurance, as well as $2.3 billion in customer deposits. $0.3 billion in loans will also be transferred.
Tan outlined the rationale for the purchase during the bank’s 1QFY2026 results briefing on May 8. In particular, the portfolio’s higher concentration of deposits and AUM than loans was a huge draw for OCBC.
“When I looked at the IWP portfolio, I realised this is a perfect fit for our ‘Next Frontier’ strategy,” Tan says. “Why is that a good portfolio? If a portfolio contains loans, we have to worry about two things. [Firstly,] downside risk due to credit cost. Secondly, if the portfolio is large, we actually reduce value due to single-borrower risk concentration. So, we have to manage that.”
The large number of Casa in HSBC Indonesia’s IWP portfolio was another plus for OCBC. Tan says that taking in the Casa will allow OCBC Indonesia to “make money straight away” because it offers low-cost funding for its loan business.
While the wealth management business has become more ostensibly crowded, Tan argues that it isn’t actually the case. In fact, the competitive landscape in Asean has actually become less crowded as some players have exited from the field. This creates an opening for aspirants like OCBC to gain a foothold in the space by leveraging its product capabilities to develop country-specific products.
Tan is bullish on OCBC’s prospects in the race, adding that he wants OCBC to achieve double-digit y-o-y growth in its wealth fees and AUM. OCBC’s wealth income grew 34% y-o-y to $1.44 billion in FY2025, up from $1.08 billion in FY2024.
“Competition has been intense over the last 10 years. It’s not a new thing to us, but the more important thing is our capabilities,” Tan says.
Analysts hailed OCBC’s results, with its 23% y-o-y growth in non-interest income a “nice surprise”. Morningstar’s Chan now expects the bank’s non-interest income to grow at an average rate of 6% through 2030, up from 5% as well.
The team at RHB also noted OCBC’s “solid” 1QFY2026 results, highlighting the bank’s “solid balance sheet, positive earnings momentum — especially on its wealth — and reasonable valuations and dividend yield”.
Meanwhile, Lim Rui Wen of DBS Group Research believes OCBC’s treasury customer flows are “another area of growth”.
“Currently, there is a very good talent bench strength and customer flow has been growing higher and higher,” she writes. “Management believes they can continue to sustain growth and have onboarded some talent in various products and sales, as product capability will help drive the flow of front-facing businesses, particularly in the wealth businesses.”
“Management will continue to add resources and believes that treasury income will continue to grow, led by both wealth and non-wealth customer flows. The split of customer treasury flow leans more towards wealth (about 60%) than corporates (40%–50%). Customer flow +35% y-o-y, wealth customer flows grew about 50% y-o-y while corporates grew 20% y-o-y,” she adds.
