APAC billionaires set to transfer $1.3t in wealth to heirs by 2040

Commercial banks have beefed up their relationship manager headcounts between 2023 to 2025.

An estimated $1.3t of wealth can be transferred from Asia Pacific billionaires to their children by 2040, according to a report by LEK Consulting.

More than 3 in 5 Asian high net worth individuals (HNWIs) are above the age of 60 in the region, with Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia representing over 40% of the wealth to be inherited.

Commercial banking groups have beefed up their private bank relationship manager headcount between 2023 to 2025, LEK Consulting said in a September 2026 report.

DBS Wealth Management’s headcount rose by 13.8% over the two-year period, whilst Standard Chartered’s headcount jumped 27.3%. Bank of Singapore logged a 12.1% increase in headcount over the period.

“Major international private banks are aggressively hiring relationship managers and wealth planning specialists, significantly upgrading their succession planning and estate advisory capabilities, and deepening their presence in key markets across the region,” LEK Consulting wrote in the report.

The question for commercial banks is whether they have the business model ready to capture the current opportunity, according to LEK Consulting’s Justin Tan, Wilson Liu, and Roger Loh.

“Success requires excelling across three levers: sharpening the value proposition across the client’s personal and corporate balance sheet, establishing the optimal organizational and coverage model to deliver it, and designing incentives that make cross-unit collaboration attractive and sustainable,” LEK Consulting said.

Trust-based relationships with next-generation business owners are being built in conversations currently, including by competitors who do not have existing corporate relationships, the report said.

Commercial banks will need to treat the business-owner segment as a distinct client franchise rather than merely as a cross-sell opportunity, LEK Consulting said.