\n For private banks serving multi-generational wealth, forming an investment approach involves balancing near-term market developments against investment principles, a disciplined process,\u00a0 and a much longer time horizon. With investors, advisers and asset managers drawing on much the same information, the challenge for chief investment officers is to build a framework that can look beyond near-term noise and translate into portfolios that serve clients’ long-term objectives.
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\nAt the recent Hubbis Investment Forum Singapore 2026, a panel chaired by Arjan de Boer, Managing Director, Head of Private Banks Coverage for Asia-Pacific, Financial Institutions Group Asia-Pacific, at Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB, examined how products travel from the CIO view to the client’s portfolio. Jean Chia, Global Chief Investment Officer at Bank of Singapore, described how the bank’s investment approach is derived \u00a0how it approaches consensus thinking, and how data can help advisers hold more constructive conversations with clients.\n <\/p>\n
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Key Takeaways<\/p>\n
\n\tA team-based investment committee shapes the house view, according to Chia, drawing on subject matter experts across macro, fixed income, equities, alternatives and discretionary management.
\n\tThe bank has moved towards robust optimisation for asset allocation and a more risk-based tactical asset allocation approach, and Chia said it intends to focus further on a \u201cwhole portfolio approach\u201d.
\n\tA longer time horizon can support views that differ from consensus, with Chia citing the bank’s May 2024 overweight position in Hong Kong\/China equities as one example.
\n\tCaution on an asset class does not necessarily mean avoiding it, in Chia’s view, with private credit potentially warranting a carefully sized allocation and more stringent due diligence.
\n\tData analytics and stress testing can help shift client conversations from preferences towards objectives, an area where Chia sees AI as a significant enabler.
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How the Investment Strategy Is Formed<\/p>\n
Chia explained that Bank of Singapore’s investment views are derived from \u00a0the strategy teams under the CIO Investment Institute, a portfolio and investment strategy team \u00a0complemented by security selection, fund selection and alternatives teams within the CIO office, based on a process that has evolved over the last six years, broadening both its skill sets and its cross-asset view.<\/p>\n
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“It’s very much a collaborative team approach,” she said. The bank’s investment committee, which Chia chairs, comprises subject matter experts in fixed income, equities and alternatives, alongside the discretionary managers who lead the various functions..<\/p>\n
Refining the Framework<\/p>\n
Chia said the bank had refreshed its approach to strategic asset allocation in recent years. Rather than relying on point assumptions in the way traditional mean variance optimisation does, the bank’s framework incorporates uncertainty in its inputs through what she described as robust optimisation. It has also adjusted its tactical asset allocation to be more risk-based.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Chia said the focus would increasingly be on what the bank calls a whole portfolio approach, which she likened to the Total Portfolio Approach used in the institutional space.<\/p>\n
“Increasingly we cannot think in terms of asset class or product silos,” she said, pointing to distinctions such as public versus private markets. Instead, she suggested, the question is what role each asset class plays and how the individual components interact within a multi-asset portfolio.<\/p>\n
Navigating Consensus and Echo Chambers<\/p>\n
Asked how a CIO can form a distinctive view when market participants are working from the same data, Chia acknowledged the pull of prevailing opinion. “There is a lot of consensus thinking, and maybe also a lot of echo chambers,” she said, whether on social media or within the industry itself. Following the consensus may feel easier and less risky, she suggested, but it does not necessarily add value. Equally, she indicated that taking a different view simply for its own sake is not the objective.<\/p>\n
For Chia, the starting point is a set of principles that align with those of clients. She suggested that the role of a wealth manager is not to pursue the best possible performance over a quarter or half year, and that its long-term objectives can differ from those of asset managers.<\/p>\n
Chia said the bank thinks about its investment horizon in decades, reflecting the multigenerational nature of private wealth.<\/p>\n
That longer-term lens, she explained, shapes how much weight the team places on each development, cycle and macroeconomic situation relative to near-term news such as Federal Reserve decisions. Near-term events still matter, she noted, but they are considered in the context of the longer term.<\/p>\n
According to Chia, this approach can at times result in positions that appear contrarian. She cited the bank’s view on China and Asia in May 2024, at a time when some market participants regarded China as uninvestable. She said the bank moved to an overweight position, based on a longer-term horizon and factors including valuations and the strategic and diversification benefits of Asia. She also added that the bank’s participation in the AI theme was neither new nor reactive, but based on a set of longer-term Supertrends that map out structural shifts over a 5-year time horizon.<\/p>\n
A Measured Stance on Private Credit<\/p>\n
Chia applied similar reasoning to private credit, where she acknowledged investor caution. “People may be very cautious on private credit, but that doesn’t mean that private credit doesn’t deserve an allocation in our portfolios,” she said. “It may not be an outsized exposure, but it certainly has its role to play in a portfolio context.”<\/p>\n
In her view, the appropriate response is to size such allocations carefully and to apply more stringent due diligence, rather than treating the decision as binary.<\/p>\n
Letting the Data Lead the Conversation<\/p>\n
The discussion also turned to self-directed clients who may be inclined towards frequent trading. Chia likened portfolio awareness to a health check, suggesting that clients benefit from understanding the exposure within their portfolios, beyond the labels.<\/p>\n
She noted that behavioural patterns can emerge. A client who has had success with accumulators over a short period, for instance, may be inclined to do more. Formal suitability guardrails, such as concentration risk limits, provide one safeguard, but Chia observed that some clients may remain confident in their own approach until they are shown the data on portfolio risks.<\/p>\n
Tools such as maximum drawdown simulations and stress tests, she said, can help build that awareness, including among ultra-high-net-worth clients who regard themselves as sophisticated. The aim, as she described it, is to open a conversation about how clients can continue to pursue what they enjoy, whether private markets, derivatives or bonds, with a clearer view of the risks. She gave the example of a bond investor who may assume their portfolio is safe, noting that US Treasuries have been volatile and raising the questions of whether duration risk has been managed and whether an equity allocation might help deliver the real return required.<\/p>\n
“It’s less of an opinion. It’s less of me versus you,” Chia said. “It’s more of let’s have a conversation about your expected returns and risk, with the facts on the table.”<\/p>\n
From Preference to Objective<\/p>\n
Chia suggested that framing discussions around a client’s ultimate objectives, rather than their preferences, can lead to more productive conversations. She observed that relationship managers and investment advisers may be tempted to focus on preferences because it is easier. Raising ideas outside a client’s preference set can be more challenging, she noted, as advisers need to be prepared with the arguments and the facts.<\/p>\n
She described this as both an education and an empowerment piece, for clients and relationship managers alike, drawing a comparison with a doctor whose advice carries greater weight once it is supported by the relevant data. “That behavioural aspect is important, and I think AI is a big enabler of that,” she said, adding that the bank continues to seek high quality data on alternatives and derivatives. Principles Over Noise<\/p>\n
Chia’s remarks offered an insight into how one of the region’s private banks approaches the formation and transmission of its house view. In her account, the process combines a team-based investment committee, a refined allocation methodology and a longer-term lens through which near-term developments are assessed.<\/p>\n
Her comments also highlighted the role of data in client engagement, with stress testing and portfolio analysis positioned as tools to help advisers and clients move from opinion towards evidence. As the range of available products continues to widen, Chia’s account suggests that Bank of Singapore regards a disciplined, principles-led framework, and the clear communication of that framework, as central to its investment approach.<\/p>\n
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