Private-bank onboarding time still a sticking point despite Singapore’s push for speed

[SINGAPORE] The drawn-out process of private-bank onboarding remains a key bottleneck for Singapore’s wealthy, industry participants have said, even as the authorities push to cut account-opening times for the ultra-high-net-worth to under a month.

In May, the Private Banking Industry Group, an industry-led committee that is a collaboration between the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the private banking industry, set a goal to cut accounting opening times for most clients to within a month by end-2026.

Yet, industry participants and relationship managers told The Business Times that the broader onboarding process can still take three to 12 months, particularly for complex cases.