OCBC has been busy boosting its private banking headcount, but local banks are still struggling to secure top talent. The firm has doubled its team to 170 in the last 18 months and plans to keep on hiring relationship managers (RMs), according to Oliver Denis, head of OCBC private banking.

“The exact number of jobs we create in the future depends on the market itself. If the market is performing well, we will certainly be expanding our front office,” says spokeswoman Betty Fong.

The jobs growth is needed to service wealthy clients in Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as emerging markets in China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, adds Fong. Relationship managers are first on OCBC’s shopping list: “We always try to keep the RM/client ratio as low as possible.”

Stanley Teo, a director at Profile Search and Selection, says RMs are hot property in the private banking world. “Banks want people who can bring SG$100-150m worth of assets under management.”

But domestic private banks like OCBC are a long way from winning the talent war against international titans such as UBS, says Teo. “Local banks have been hit and miss in their hiring. In the big picture they struggle to compete. We’re still way off the time when they will get the very best private bankers.”

Pernille Storm, a director a recruiters Hudson, says it’s not easy for Singaporean private banks to poach talent from the globals. “This is always an issue. Candidates think that they’re better off at an international brand.”

OCBC faces fierce competition in the current recruitment market, with firms of all sizes battling for private bankers and the fat cat clients they bring with them. Storm says that second-tier European banks are the most aggressive hirers. “But all the banks want people with assets under management. If you don’t have existing clients, then it’s tough to break into private banking,” she adds.

Teo says the going rate for a junior VP is about SG$180k in base pay.