Asia wealth management faces talent crisis

By Brian Kelleher, Asia financial services correspondent

TOKYO (Reuters) - From Tokyo to Shanghai to Mumbai, the loudest complaint from financial executives is that the shortage of talent is getting worse as competition for Asia's wealthy increases.

A lack of well-trained fund managers and private bankers throughout Asia poses a risk for the wealth management business as the industry expands too quickly for newcomers to gain experience.

"We have a number of concerns about the experience of people coming to us looking for licenses," said Martin Wheatley, chief executive of Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission, during the Reuters Wealth Management Summit. "That's across the board in financial services."

Asia's wealthy -- considered to be people with more than $1 million in investable assets beyond their house -- rose 7.3 percent to 2.4 million people last year, faster than the more developed markets of the United States and Europe.

Financial firms are gearing up to take care of this new class of rich customers, but the talent shortage is costing big money as firms struggle with high turnover rates as employees with minimal experience jump to competitors for bigger paychecks.

"We lose people to the industry quite a lot," Wheatley said. "We need to pay them more."

Private bankers are particularly hard to find as they need to make personal connections with the world's richest people, and some country officials are trying to fill the void.

"At the high end, people like to have relationships with people like themselves," said Dave Seymour, global head of investment management and funds practice for KPMG, noting that Singapore has set up banker training schools.  Continued...