Kaven Leung, chief executive officer for Citi Global Wealth Management Asia Pacific, thinks the private banking industry is heading for consolidation in the region. “I don’t think there will be big lay-offs or redundancies, as wealth is still being created,” he says. But he does believe many of the more aggressive recent entrants are going to get into trouble. “I think the weak ones will get winnowed out.”

The marketplace is crowded. Over the past few years, lots of financial institutions have moved into private banking in east and south Asia. Increasingly, local banks are trying to build on their home familiarity by starting their own wealth management services.