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Whenever someone mentions they’re a relationship banking customer, people start to look at them differently. That’s because the common perception is that relationship banking is an exclusive world that’s reserved for the ultra-wealthy. In many people’s minds, relationship banking, or privilege/priority banking, is pictured as a hyper-exclusive service that is tailored to the lifestyles of the rich and famous.
That might have been true a couple of decades ago, but things have certainly changed in the relationship banking space in recent times, and it is now much more accessible to a wider audience. Beyond banking services, relationship banking is about building trust through deeper engagements, personalised financial advice and access to exclusive resources and benefits.
While most banks continue to reserve this space for the financial elite as their Assets Under Management (AUM) boost the banks’ coffers significantly, there are also some banks that recognise the potential of customers who fall outside the spectrum of the financial elite.
These customers represent a growing segment of aspiring affluent individuals who also require financial and investment expertise to help them make sound decisions, with the aim of elevating their wealth standing. And some banks are offering priority banking services that are dedicated to helping such customers plan and reach their financial goals, without the need for customers to deposit a huge amount of cash to get started.
The importance of planning out your financial goals and needs
When it comes to investing, many people know that they need to plan for short, medium and long-term goals, but they aren’t always equipped with the tools and knowledge to do that effectively. At least not from a wealth management perspective.
This is where relationship banking can help. Some of the core benefits of having access to relationship banking services are the combination of tools and expertise that can make it a lot easier for you to chart out your investment goals and work towards achieving it.
Some might think that investing is only for the rich, which couldn’t be further from the truth. And now, you can actually get access to tools that were previously only available to privilege-equivalent segments. There are many ways to plan for the future, and this is where your Relationship Manager can help you to start small and plan out your future together, as well as developing a structured discipline plan for you to save consistently via regular investment schemes if you feel it is too much of a commitment.
No one has ever scaled Mount Everest successfully by blindly heading for the summit without a detailed and structured plan. In the same way, building a successful future comes with making informed decisions based on a well thought out plan. This is something that many people value when it comes to relationship banking.
The truth is, having a Relationship Manager to help guide you along with your investment journey might not have been something that many people have considered, or they might have just thought they would never have that level of access to informational resources and a guiding hand because they could never qualify for it.
That is why it’s necessary for many of us to change our long-held misconception about relationship banking, so that we can benefit from having someone help us plan out what we want to achieve, and talk us through how we can achieve that through the various investment vehicles available.
UOB Wealth Banking – relationship banking for the aspiring affluent
UOB Wealth Banking has all the features and different solutions customers need and want, and is accessible with an achievable AUM requirement as compared to other banks’ priority banking services, to help you along your investing journey.
Which begs the following questions: Do I qualify? Are there a lot of fees involved? What kind of services are there? And are they watered down given the lower qualifying criteria?
Qualifying for UOB Wealth Banking
To qualify, you simply need to maintain a minimum of S$100,000 in qualifying AUM, or its equivalent in a foreign currency.
In order to meet the S$100,000 requirement, a cash deposit in a savings account will do. Otherwise, you can choose to manage your cash using one or more of the many wealth management products on offer.
Advisory tools
One of the biggest reasons people utilise relationship banking services is for the dedicated advice that they will receive to help them achieve their wealth goals. UOB Wealth Banking offers a suite of Portfolio Advisory Tools that both experienced investors and those who are just beginning their investment journey can benefit from.
Comprising three complementary tools, namely Tracker, Insights and Explorer, UOB’s Portfolio Advisory Tools offer a complete solution for any wealth portfolio.
Portfolio Tracker enables you to easily monitor and manage your wealth portfolio at one glance. Portfolio Insights provides portfolio stress-test functionalities to help you better optimize your risks and returns, while Portfolio Explorer lets you discover funds and bonds in real time to find suitable products for the most risk optimal portfolio for you.
Using the Portfolio Advisory Tools, your Relationship Manager can analyse and compare between current and proposed portfolios across risk and performance parameters in an easy-to-understand and visual manner. Thanks to UOB’s proprietary Risk First Approach to wealth management, you can be sure that the portfolio of investment solutions that you can choose would be appropriate to your risk profile and your desired wealth goals.
Dedicated help to accompany you on your investing journey
As a UOB Wealth Banking customer, you will be assigned a dedicated Relationship Manager who will work with a team of specialists to provide you with tailored financial solutions that match your risk profile.
This is a very important difference from investing on your own. Why? Because UOB’s group of in-house experts have access to information that will help you make better informed decisions. This is key because you can then plan out your financial goals in a more holistic manner, and have a proper plan and strategy, as opposed to making decisions in an ad hoc manner.
Another advantage of being a UOB Wealth Banking customer is being able to use UOB’s dedicated Wealth Banking Centres, which allows you to have conversations with your Relationship Manager in a comfortable, private space and give you peace of mind.
Plus, you enjoy preferential queuing and services at all UOB branches, which means saving time on your branch visits.
That’s not all. You’ll also get a regular and timely delivery of Investment and Market Insights via emails and SMSes which allow you to have your finger on the pulse of the market. This means staying attuned to key market events and developments, and ahead of your investment game.
These are the sort of things that would take a normal retail investor way more to time to wrap their head around. Finding a suitable investment product in line with your financial goals and risk profile can be shortened with the usage of UOB Wealth Banking’s suite of advisory tools.
Lifestyle perks
Killing it with your investment portfolio is all well and good, but sometimes you just want to let down your hair. As a UOB Wealth Banking customer, you’ll have lots of reasons to do just that thanks to a suite of exclusive lifestyle privileges.
UOB Wealth Banking offers no shortage of lifestyle privileges, including travel privileges such as discounts on hotel and flight bookings and dining privileges that enable you to enjoy discounts at some of Singapore’s best restaurants.
For example, one of the ongoing benefits is enjoying up to 50% off hotel stays. You also get to enjoy a whole host of complimentary treats during your birthday month.
Simply utilise the improved UOB Mighty app for on-the-go banking to make managing your finances and transactions a breeze.
Start your Wealth Banking journey with UOB today and receive a pair of complimentary passes to the exclusive Changi Lounge. Terms and conditions apply.
To register, SMS MSWB<space>Your name to 77862 or have a UOB Relationship Manager get in touch with you by completing this form.
To find out more about UOB Wealth Banking, click here.
Do you have any questions about UOB Wealth Banking? Ask away in the comments!