Sy’s China Bank beefs up wealth management unit

Photo from www.chinabank.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Publicly listed China Banking Corp. will modernize its private banking business for high net-worth individuals, with the support of software services from one of Europe’s leading IT solutions providers.

In a statement, the Henry Sy-led bank announced it would acquire a new wealth management system developed by Sopra Banking Software—a software and IT services company based in France—to strengthen its private banking business.

“The Sopra Banking for Wealth Management [system] will enable China Bank to streamline information across the private bank, from the front office where the customer-facing relationship managers require real-time data and information with a complete view of the clients’ portfolio, to the back office where transactions are consolidated efficiently with minimal human intervention,” China Bank said.

The new system will also enable the offsite centers of the bank’s Private Banking Group to use the standardized platforms for faster product launches and implementation of third party products.

China Bank said its Private Banking Group offers a wide range of services to the high net worth segment, from portfolio management, advisory services, and trust services to personalized lending services and traditional banking.

The bank said that as it continues to expand its private banking portfolio, the new wealth management solution from Sopra Banking Software would automate a large number of processes and calculations, and more importantly, give the bank full insight into its private banking customers, including the capability to simulate actions or model future behavior.

“It is not enough that we provide alternative products for the affluent market,” China Bank CEO Ricardo Chua said.