DBS Bank has agreed to buy the Asian private banking business of French lender Societe Generale in a deal worth $220 million, boosting its access to the region’s super rich. DBS said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange that the deal will accelerate DBS’s ambition of becoming a leading wealth manager in Asia. The acquisition comes at a time of growing competition to manage the wealth of Asia’s growing ranks of millionaires and billionaires. Under the agreement, DBS will buy Societe General’s Asian private banking operations in Singapore and Hong Kong and parts of its trust business. DBS’s clients will have access to Societe Generale Private Banking’s offerings in Europe, DBS said.
