Published April 25, 2009

Reaching out to manicured millionaires

More Indonesian women with big bucks in S'pore than S'poreans

By SIOW LI SEN

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WEALTHY women from Singapore are being outnumbered in their own backyard by their well-heeled sisters from Indonesia. Singapore has some 16,000 women millionaires worth an average of US$4.2 million, a survey by private bank RBS Coutts has found. These Singaporeans own a combined US$71 billion, and represent a huge potential market for the private banking industry in Asia.

If that is impressive, then cast an eye on the bankable and wealthy Indonesian women in Singapore. They number 20,000 and hold in their manicured hands some US$93 billion - an average of more than US$4.6 million each. That makes them more numerous and somewhat richer than their Singaporean counterparts.

This survey, perhaps the first on high net worth women, does not take into account the property they own.

The annual World Wealth Report, released by Merrill Lynch and research firm Capgemini, said that in 2007, Singapore had 77,000 millionaires - defined as those with more than US$1 million - making up 1.7 per cent of the population here.

The RBS Coutts survey in 2008 also found that Hong Kong has 37,094 wealthy women with an average net worth of US$4.4 million, representing a total of US$152 billion. But they, too, have been outshone at home, as Hong Kong also has an estimated 120,000 bankable high net worth women from China.

Both Hong Kong and Singapore have the largest concentrations of wealthy non-resident Indian women in the Asia-Pacific region, the survey found.

Women generally trade less than men and are more risk averse, and so would have lost less money in the current global financial crisis.

'Yes, they've lost less money,' said Esther Heer, RBS Coutts head of private banking, North Asia.

The bulk of their wealth is still kept as deposits in banks, she told BT yesterday.

'My personal experience is that women are not so keen to leverage their portfolios, not so keen to trade, happy to buy a stock and keep it for the medium to long term and they're more geared towards income products,' said Ms Heer.

'They are keen on property, especially those with children,' she added.

The survey found that Singapore women millionaires have only 23 per cent of their money with private banks. In Hong Kong, it's slightly higher at 26 per cent.

According to Synovate, an international research house which conducted the survey, wealthy women fall into four categories. One is single professional women who are very focused on money with little time for other activities. They are savvy investors and Ms Heer said that quite a number of them went to work after graduation, and after a few years easily earn US$500,000 a year.

The next category is professional women married with kids. They are more visible at their workplace and have to balance both career and family but career is the priority. Their attitude to money is to get as much as possible.

Another group consists of married women with kids who may or may not work and family is their top priority. They like to invest their own money.

The final category is married women whose children are grown up and their attitude towards life and money is to enjoy both as much as possible.

When it comes to investments, Ms Heer noted, women are sharper than men.

'Women are not as gullible as men, they want more details and want to know more.'

There are also women who are divorced or recently widowed who sometimes feel very intimidated and private bankers need to understand this, she said.

RBS Coutts has begun training a dedicated group of private bankers to better understand and serve women clients.

The bank, which yesterday launched a new private banking initiative aimed specifically at high net worth Asian women, has in all 150 private bankers in the region.

'The women-specific approach broke new ground in the UK when it was launched several years ago; and continues to be very successful. We aim to deliver an equally tailored and effective proposition to women in Asia,' said Ms Heer.