- Hong Kong and Singapore remain key wealth management hubs in the Asia-Pacific region, with a combined domestic and cross-border wealth pool exceeding USD 10 trillion in 2024.
- Challenges around traditional wealth management persist, particularly in relation to operational inefficiencies and limited personalisation, which have fuelled growing demand for digital solutions.
- WealthTech solutions are gaining momentum in the region – financial institutions are digitalising their services to keep up with digital-native entrants.
- Hong Kong, 12 June 2025 – Allfunds Asia and Quinlan & Associates today co-published a thought leadership report that examines the digital wealth management landscape in Hong Kong and Singapore and how financial institutions are leveraging WealthTech solutions to capture new market opportunities.
- Titled Rich Pickings: Unpacking the WealthTech Revolution in Hong Kong and Singapore, the study looks at the rising demand from end investors for more accessible, affordable, and personalised digital wealth experiences and how financial institutions are responding to these needs. It draws upon survey responses from 64 C-suite / senior wealth executives in Hong Kong and Singapore to understand financial institutions’ key strategic priorities, outsourcing preferences, and partnership approaches when adopting WealthTech solutions.
- Hong Kong and Singapore retain their status as key wealth management centres and remain well-positioned to capitalise on growth in personal investable assets
- Hong Kong and Singapore are key wealth management centres in the Asia-Pacific region, with total wealth held by the domestic adult population of USD 3.9 trillion and USD 2.3 trillion respectively in 2024. While the majority of adults fall under the "mass retail" category, with wealth below USD 1 million, a significant portion are still considered financially well-off when compared to global standards.
- “The mass retail segment accounts for roughly 30% of the total wealth pool in both Hong Kong and Singapore, with an estimated combined value nearing USD 2 trillion,” said Mr. David Perez De Albeniz, Head of Asia at Allfunds. As leading cross-border wealth destinations, both markets are also well-positioned to benefit from the growing pool of personal investable assets in other jurisdictions, particularly from China, which is forecast to reach USD 103 trillion by the end for 2033.
- “With opportunities emerging both domestically and abroad, we see tremendous, continued growth potential for the wealth management sector in Hong Kong and Singapore,” added Mr. Benjamin Quinlan, CEO and Managing Partner of Quinlan & Associates.
- Rising demand for WealthTech solutions and presence of digital native disruptors driving digitalisation among traditional financial institutions
- Traditional wealth management models face several challenges across the customer journey, including limited accessibility, high costs, low levels of automation, and a lack of personalisation. With relationship managers often responsible for hundreds – sometimes even thousands – of clients, service delivery is frequently stretched and suboptimal.
- “These pain points are increasingly driving investors toward digital wealth management solutions,” commented Mr. Albeniz. “While face-to-face interactions remain important, investors in Hong Kong and Singapore have significantly increased their use of digital channels over the past two years.”
- The study found that investors in Hong Kong and Singapore are increasingly relying on digital wealth management channels and becoming more comfortable with emerging tools, with 93% of Hong Kong investors and 85% of Singapore investors having accessed wealth management services through digital channels in the past two years. Against this backdrop, digital native disruptors have entered the market with highly competitive propositions, prompting incumbent players to accelerate their adoption of WealthTech solutions.
- “Digital-native disruptors, such as independent robo-advisors and neobrokers, are showcasing remarkable growth, driven by the strong service propositions relative to more traditional peers,” said Mr. Quinlan. Recognising both the emerging market opportunities and the increasing competition, traditional financial institutions have increasingly been embracing WealthTech, either by launching direct-to-consumer platforms or by empowering their relationship managers with digital tools to enhance client engagement.
- Financial institutions engage multiple specialised vendors to meet business needs
- When it comes to acquiring WealthTech capabilities across the value chain, institutions in Hong Kong prefer to outsource middle- and back-office functions to external vendors (21% in Hong Kong compared to 11% in Singapore), as compared to those in Singapore who lean more toward in-house development (21% in Singapore compared to 19% in Hong Kong).
- The study found that institutions favouring in-house development, or a combination of both approaches, tend to demonstrate higher WealthTech adoption maturity compared to those relying solely on outsourcing. There is also a gap between the perceived importance and actual adoption of WealthTech solutions across the value chain, possibly linked to a strong preference among financial institutions to retain core wealth capabilities in-house while outsourcing supporting functions.
- When selecting solution providers, respondents generally favoured standalone offerings from technology companies over white-labelled solutions provided by their peers. Despite challenges such as integration complexity and cost control, many institutions prefer to engage multiple specialised vendors, citing difficulties in finding a single vendor capable of meeting all their specific needs.
- “WealthTech will be key for financial institutions as they respond to the market’s evolving demands,” said Mr. Sebastien Chaker, Head of Hong Kong at Allfunds. “Looking ahead, we expect increased collaboration between financial institutions and WealthTech solution providers to fully capture the opportunities ahead,” commented Mr. Max Toh, Head of Digital Wealth Solutions (Asia) at Allfunds. “We are proud to be part of this journey by offering our WealthTech engines to clients, alongside our core fund platform services.”
About Quinlan & Associates
Quinlan & Associates is one of Asia’s leading independent strategy consultancies. We are the first firm to offer end-to-end strategy consulting services. From strategy formulation to execution to ongoing reporting, communications, and training, we translate cutting-edge advice into commercially executable solutions. With our team of top-tier financial service and strategy consulting professionals and our global network of alliance partners, we give our clients the most up-to-date industry insights from around the world, putting them an essential step ahead of their competitors.
- Benjamin Quinlan
- CEO / Managing Partner
- +852 2618 5000
- bquinlan@quinlanandassociates.com
- Justin Chung
- Associate Partner
- +852 2618 5000
- jchung@quinlanandassociates.com
About Allfunds
- Allfunds (AMS:ALLFG) is the leading end-to-end WealthTech partner for the wealth and asset management industries, with more than €1.5 trillion assets under administration across mutual funds, alternative assets and ETPs. Allfunds has built and continues to evolve an ecosystem that covers the entire fund distribution value chain and investment cycle, with solutions including wealth management solutions, data and analytics tools, regulatory technology, ESG solutions, ManCo solutions, as well as distribution and execution services for mutual funds, alternative assets and ETFs.
- Allfunds operates globally with 17 offices in major financial markets, serving +20,000 wealth professionals with its SaaS solutions. The company serves and connects over 3,350 fund groups and 930 distributors across 66 countries.
- *Bogotá | Dubai | Hong Kong | London | Luxembourg | Madrid | Miami | Milan | Paris | Santiago | São Paulo | Shanghai | Singapore | Stockholm | Valencia | Warsaw | Zurich
- For more information, please visit www.allfunds.com.
- All figures as of 31.12.24.
- David Perez De Albeniz
- Head of Asia
- +65 6914 0875
- david.pdealbeniz@allfunds.com
- Sebastien Chaker
- Head of Hong Kong
- +852 3460 4008
- sebastien.chaker@allfunds.com
- Katherine Sloan
- Global Head of MarComms & ESG
- +34 91 274 64 00
- katherine.sloan@allfunds.com
