Bank of Singapore has strengthened its family office advisory leadership as ultra-wealthy clients step up succession and legacy planning amid a global wealth transfer cycle, underscoring intensifying competition among private banks for high-value relationships in Asia.
The private banking arm of OCBC Group said Elvin Ho will join on May 4 as head of family office and structuring solutions, where he will lead the bank’s competency centre in developing its family office offering, wealth structuring capabilities and philanthropy advisory for ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients.
Ho joins from JPMorgan Private Bank, where he advised Southeast Asian clients on cross-border tax, estate and succession planning. Prior to that, he spent nearly two decades at UBS AG in senior roles spanning wealth planning, investment consulting and risk.
The leadership build-out comes as demand for family office advisory accelerates, with the bank citing a record number of client engagements in 2025 and projecting further growth as wealth transitions across generations.
Asia is expected to account for a significant share of global intergenerational wealth transfers over the next decade, increasing the need for more sophisticated structuring and advisory solutions.
As part of the reorganisation, Jiawen Guo has been appointed head of family office and wealth advisory for Singapore, while Christine Wong and Yasmine Omari continue to lead the business in Hong Kong and Dubai, respectively, reflecting the growing importance of these hubs in serving globally mobile wealth. Harry Ng has also been named senior wealth advisor overseeing key client relationships in Singapore and Malaysia.
The move aligns with OCBC’s “whole-of-wealth” strategy, integrating banking and insurance capabilities through its ecosystem, including Great Eastern.
The expansion highlights a broader industry shift, as private banks deepen in-house structuring expertise to retain assets, capture intergenerational flows and position themselves as long-term partners to family offices navigating increasingly complex cross-border wealth and succession challenges.
