FT: Third of staff at RBS Coutts Singapore quit over bonuses

Third of staff at RBS Coutts Singapore quit

By Sundeep Tucker in Hong Kong Financial Times Published: October 12 2009 23:21

RBS Coutts, the international arm of the UK private bank, is scrambling to rebuild its flagship Singapore office after the mass resignation of one-third of its staff in the city-state.

The surprise departures include about 20 key managers, as well as 50 or so support staff, some of whom built up lucrative private banking business with rich Indians and Indonesians.

A lack of annual bonus prospects is believed to be a factor behind some of the resignations at the division, owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, which was rescued by the UK government last year.

Senior moves in the private banking industry are sensitive, due to the possibility of colleagues following departing employees to other institutions and taking clients with them. The destinations of the 70- odd staff remain unknown.

The Singapore and Hong Kong offices employ the bulk of the group?s 510 staff in Asia, a region which accounts for about SFr17bn ($16.6bn) ? or a quarter ? of RBS Coutts? funds under management.

RBS Coutts, which confirmed the resignations, said they represented less than 15 per cent of regional headcount. ?Staff volatility in the private banking industry is not unusual, especially in Asia,? it said.

While large private banking teams routinely change employers, especially in Asia, industry participants said it was rare for a bank to lose so many staff at the same time.

RBS Coutts said that, although it was ultimately owned by the UK government, it could offer sufficiently attractive pay packages to attract staff. ?We expect our compensation packages to be market competitive,? it said.

Rivals are aggressively hiring established private bankers with track records in Asia to expand operations, keen to manage a slice of the wealth being created in the region. Singapore is the centre of the group?s offshore private banking activity in fast-growing areas such as south-east Asia and India.

The Financial Times reported last week that industry veteran Hanspeter Brunner had quit as head of RBS Coutts to join BSI, a Swiss private bank owned by Generali, the Italian insurance group.

One of Mr Brunner?s senior colleagues, Raj Sriram, who led a close- knit team that built up RBS Coutts? business with wealthy non-resident Indians, is among the departures. Mr Brunner was replaced by Nick Pollard, a long-serving executive of Coutts.

RBS Coutts insisted the departures would not have an impact on clients ?who have continued to support us by remaining with us?. The bank added: ?Clients know that we have a large team of highly experienced and committed senior bankers who continue to provide the same personalised attention.?

The spokesman said RBS remained in ?growth mode? in Asia and planned to replace those who have left and add a further 200 staff to regional headcount by 2015.

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