Bank of Singapore claims its Asian roots make it one of the few private banking providers globally that can effectively source private equity funds in the region for clients. But that’s a fractional part of the offering.

Jiun Wen Chee, the bank’s head of alternative investments, is mindful of the macro pressures on Asia in a decoupling world, including the US tariff regime. He wants to do more in the region by going deeper, not wider. This means more rigour around questioning business sustainability and cost management – at the manager and portfolio company levels.

“While our clients have shied away from Asia due to continued geopolitical tension and a lack of exits, we’re not saying no to the region,” Chee said. “We have been spending time to find what we believe is best-in-class. The bar is higher here, given the relative value of Europe and North America. It’s just about uncovering the right opportunities.”

This is not to suggest that Bank of Singapore is looking to pursue larger commitments with fewer GPs in general. Chee describes the current GP portfolio globally as “more than a dozen” and set to increase, especially in US and Europe mid-market buyouts.

There is about USD 127bn in assets under management across alternatives, about half of which is in private equity. More than 90% of PE exposure is in funds versus company-level exposures.

Private credit and real assets have proven the fastest-growing strategies in recent times, but private equity continues to take up most of the deal flow and will remain the bulk of the portfolio. Chee also notes that most clients tend to prioritise PE-style wealth accumulation over the steadier income streams of other alternative asset classes.

The client base is comprised essentially of family offices and high net worth individuals across Asia Pacific. A small minority are based in Europe and the Middle East. Many are business owners with experience in M&A and operational expansions – which Chee said makes them attuned to private equity playbooks.

Client advisory is also part of the offering, which includes building bespoke portfolios of exposures across closed-ended structures and evergreen funds. Evergreen concepts are regarded as easier from an admin perspective, but the mix is considered important because some strategies of interest – such as Asian venture and growth – are typically only available in a closed-ended format.

“A lot of institutional investors are looking at consolidating their number of GP relationships and focusing on having a louder voice with those firms. But we believe, ultimately, that we are out there to find the best ideas for our clients,” he explained. “We want to do due diligence on more managers to find the best opportunities for our clients.”

Institutional mindset

Bank of Singapore was launched in 2010 after OCBC Bank, one of the oldest and largest financial institutions in Southeast Asia, acquired the private banking business of ING Asia Private Bank for about USD 1.5bn. It remains a subsidiary of OCBC with bases in Hong Kong, Dubai, and Manila.

Chee joined 10 years ago following tenures at Goldman Sachs, Cambridge Associates, and Partners Group. His team includes professionals formerly with Temasek Holdings and Partners Group.

He described this background as unique in private banking – and he believes it gives the group an edge in helping with post-deal value creation and extracting insights from what GPs are doing, while also helping manage capital calls and distributions.

Last year, the bank set up an eight-person independent advisory council to support investment-related research. It includes senior executives from BlackRock, Blackstone, Temasek, Goldman Sachs, KKR, and Nomura Asset Management.

“We think like an institution and adopt an institutional-level approach as we work on types of funds and products that are brought to clients. Our investment committee also focuses on the operational aspects and client experience of a fund or product, on top of the investment level diligence that is typically the main focus of institutions,” Chee said.

The best showcase of this style is arguably a proactive and flexible approach to co-investment. Deals can be agreed before or after an LP commitment. The process helps the bank understand managers and how they operate. In the past five years, the bank has ramped up its engagement with GPs in this area. Two co-investments are under consideration currently.

“We see ourselves as an extension of family offices that have their own deal-sourcing capabilities but are looking to do more in terms of co-investments. We can provide them with different sources and hopefully better deal flow because we speak to managers around the world,” Chee said.

“That’s small today, but we are starting to see more interest and we’re making the ask where possible.”

An institutional mindset and the cadence of a quarterly investment committee also mean the bank typically takes two quarters or more to make a decision on any given investment opportunity. In some cases, due diligence on GPs means watching them for an entire fund cycle.

Cheque sizes range from USD 30m to USD 100m. The newest fund commitment, currently being finalised, is an Asia-based manager with a global venture and growth mandate.

“While the exit environment in Asia has been lacking, and we’re still mindful of dry powder available, which could pave the way for sponsor exits, there might be some room for early-stage growth managers because we’ve seen the pricing come down significantly, save for AI-related names,” Chee said.

“It’s about figuring out how these companies could thrive in this new world order that we see today. There are some managers in Asia that are able to navigate fairly well in this environment.”

Lengthening the menu

Global networks are considered helpful in the current macro environment. The Asia-based manager receiving the latest commitment has a presence in several global markets, including the US. It was compared with global peers in terms of distributions to paid-in (DPI).

“Some GPs take the approach of doing different regions with separate country-focused sleeves, but that could severely limit opportunities in the fractured world order we see today. We think the approach of having one global fund makes sense,” Chee said.

Recent activity also includes a potential single-asset continuation vehicle (CV) investment that Chee framed as part of the co-investment playbook. The target asset is a global company in payment software, considered of interest to underlying clients. The pricing is said to be attractive, with the GP rolling all its economics into the CV.

This is a relatively new area for the Bank of Singapore. It has had previous exposure to CVs via an LP commitment to a secondaries fund. But as deal flow in this vein proliferates, there is pressure to become more familiar with the opportunity set’s pitfalls and possibilities.

“Not all CVs are bad. Some might be just because there is illiquidity in the market, or a ‘right asset at the wrong time’, and we know why that’s the case with the recent volatile markets,” Chee said.

“But ultimately, it’s about asking if we think we’ll get the outcome we want by examining the GP’s re-underwriting. Some continuation assets will get you to a 2x return, and clients don’t mind that because there’s less risk of getting there.”