Times of India – Can the wealthy trust their wealth managers any more after losing 30 to 60% of their wealth during the current global financial crisis?

The world’s top banks including brands like Morgan Stanley, UBS, Barclays and Standard Chartered operating in Asia are desperately struggling to find a suitable answer to this question.

It is interesting to see the usually suave and self-confident community of private bankers looking dazed and fearful of survival. There is already a run on deposits with some of Asia’s wealthy pulling out money from accounts of private banks. The future looks dismal. Some of the world’s top banks have either gone bust or merged with others to stave off closure.

"Professional advisers have failed to prove their worth," Peter Flavel, senior managing director of The Standard Chartered Private Bank told a conference of wealth managers in Singapore on Friday. "The players have changed in a way that was unimaginable a few months back. They will continue to change," he said.

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