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In an exclusive interview, Ranjit Khanna, Head of Private Banking, Europe and the Middle East and Managing Director of the DIFC Branch, Bank of Singapore, deals with the key topics from the Cio Summit: 2025 Supertends Recently held in Dubai.
He discusses how changing geopolitical landscapes, quick technological progress such as AI and the urgent need for sustainable investments in investment areas for individuals and institutional investors change with a high network value.
Khanna also offers insights into the emerging possibilities of Asia and the developing role of private banks in a complex global economy.
What are the most important topics and knowledge from the youngest CiO Summit: 2025 super trendsAnd how do you reflect the changing global economic landscape? How are factors such as geopolitics, macroeconomic guidelines and technological innovations that shape investment strategies for individuals with high network value and institutional investors?
The five key topics are – the changing world order, activation of asset allocation, find artificial intelligence in real life, the procedure and the life of 2.0. These are topics related to geopolitics, macroeconomic politics, investment, technology as well as ecological and social dilemmata of our time.
These “super trends” will be the basis for the way we construct portfolios and evaluate investments in relation to financial classes, geographies and sectors.
How does the Bank of Singapore advise the Bank of Singapore with persistent geopolitical tensions, de-globalization trends and shifts in central bank changes in 2025? How do you see the future of the United States? Dollar as a reserve currency and what investment opportunities arise in the most important markets of Asia, including China, India and Southeast Asia?
The fragmented world investors look even more under the second concept of Trump after the shocks of pandemic, the crises in Ukraine and in the Middle East and the US China rivalry. Tax cuts, steep tariffs, tight immigration and easy regulation – these already take place. Inflation will prevail.
Despite short-term uncertainties, we are of the opinion that global growth and profit views appear largely resistant, which is based on a general risk setting in our strategy for the allocation of tactical wealth. We have an overall overweight attitude in shares, which is expressed by overweight positions in the US and Asian ex-Japan shares and neutral positions in Europe and Japan. We take an overall underweight attitude of the fixed income, with “neutral” positions in the DM high -end (Hy), the emerging countries (EM) IG and EM -HY bonds as well as underweight positions in VAT and DM IG bonds.
We believe that the rally in Hong Kong and China is largely durable and has more legs. Although China's economic prospects remain weak, there are aspiring signs that the situation may be eliminated.
The extent of the price declines on the real estate market has made it easier in recent months, while the total sales value has also come into the corner. In addition, consumer confidence that was subdued last year seems to stabilize.
We see opportunities for promising emerging countries such as India and Indonesia due to their growing mid-range and global friendship trends.
Finally, our view that gold prices could even rise with a strong USD in 2025. Gold continues to defy the negative train for seizures of USD strength and higher US real installments and expands a topic that has become increasingly clear in recent years. We continue to see gold as an effective portfolio hedge and diversifier.
Artificial intelligence changes industry worldwide, but how does it change especially for the financial sector? What are the largest AI-controlled investment options in asset management and what risks should investors take into account in their portfolios when integrating AI?
We see that AI uses cases that concentrate on a broad internal employee productivity, the sales opportunities for customer competitive applications as well as customer experience and commitment. When inclusion of AI-related securities in portfolios, it is of the opinion that it is important to be important in view of various risks such as chip export restrictions, cyclicality in aspects of companies, monetization strategies and execution functions by management teams.
Sustainability and energy transfer are still dominant topics in global investments. How does the Bank of Singapore play the ESG principles in investment strategies and what role do the markets of Asia play in the transition with clean energy, as rising energy prices and disorders of the supply chain rising energy prices?
We consider ESG considerations to be crucial for investors, especially for those with a long-term perspective. The integration of ESG factors in the decision-making in the system can help to identify risks and opportunities that can overlook traditional financial analyzes, which may improve the resilience of portfolios in the long run. Aligning investment results on your own values to do it well for society and the environment can also enable the improvement of our world.
In order to understand customers how ESG factors affect their investment portfolios, we have published research content in detail on ESG issues in recent years. Since 2020 we have worked together MSCI ESG research to record an MSCI ESG rating in all internal company research reports. Our research analysts also take into account the ESG considerations and comments in their reports taking into account sustainability risks and opportunities.
The global race for clean energy is increasing, with China and the European Union making considerable progress in renewable technologies. The United States can strategically concentrate on sectors in which you can continue to lead or catch up to ensure that investments bring tangible advantages for the economy and energy security. This could include the promotion of public-private partnerships that use innovations and at the same time meet the immediate needs of the workforce and industry.
In Asia, countries like Indonesia offer an opportunity as one of the largest carbon sisten in the world. The country also has a rich reservoir of rare earth and minerals that are required for technological progress. There are also new investment opportunities as Chinese companies that lead to energy transfer, setting up more manufacturing facilities and infrastructure in other parts of Asia.
What are the most promising sectors for long -term investors if demographic changes, technological progress and innovations in healthcare are redefined? How do long-term focus investments, biotech and digital transformation influence the portfolio strategies in a time faster changes?
While aging is a big structural trend that affects the results for economy and markets, there are sufficient mechanisms for the economy to adapt to the challenges through thinking, political changes and targeted investments. If the population groups shrink in work, the competition for qualified talents will intensify and investments in automation and productivity -increasing technologies will have an impact.
While the world will create a greater need for static robots, more exciting growth from the combination of AI and robotics will come from, because we are now entering a new era in which AI robots and humanoids will move around us.
In addition, in view of workers, declining population groups, together with the increase in automation, can advance the need to recover. This requires the technical know -how for the development of jobs. In fact, training, renewed shipping and binding talents are the keys to human capital strategy, and companies notice the growing gap in competence in industries that hinder growth and progress in their sectors.
Therefore, companies that are exposed to education, rescillering, binding and recruiting are likely to find a greater demand for their services. Personnel and recruitment companies can benefit from companies to help companies control human capital gaps, and at the same time help to skill the services again.
How should investors address the preservation and growth of assets in view of the market volatilities and further developing risk factors in 2025? What are the most important challenges and opportunities for private banking and asset management companies in the coming years, especially in Asia?
The markets are becoming increasingly complex and challenging, which makes it essential for investors to ensure that their portfolios remain resistant under fluctuating macroeconomic conditions. Investors must be agile in researching a number of solutions. At Bank of Singapore, we help customers to rate these solutions to optimize the risk and returns to achieve their wealth goals. This means portfolios to create your needs. With sufficient diversification through the wide range of investment products and solutions that we have available.
One of the central problems for private assets management in Asia and in the Middle East was the focus on short -term goals. As a industry, we focused on short -term growth, since some private banks were more likely to be driven instead of pursuing a sustainable strategy. We have to increase the bar as an industry and switch from the transaction to more asset allocation in order to ensure proper risk-based diversification in portfolios.
Private banks are also opposed to the demography and needs of customers as well as existing challenges in relation to operations, technology and talent management.
Customers are now looking for a little more of private banks – instructions and guidance for investments, family, philanthropy, retirement, successor and estate planning. It is less transaction -oriented and more sophisticated financial planning. The right infrastructure, the selection of solutions and people is therefore of essential importance for private banks.
Especially for Asia, where prosperity has grown exponentially in recent decades, this is the time of Asia in the spotlight as a region of investment and business opportunities, especially in view of the latest macroeconomic and geopolitical developments. As one of the most important gateway cities in Asia, Singapore has also developed into a very strong, leading global asset management and head of the government, which has been the reputation of transparency and maintaining the rule of law.
As a result, SingaPur banks have sparked strong interests of investors around the world with their strong credit ratings. Here we have the opportunity to bring the Bank of Singapore, a local full -fledged private bank, to a larger, more global scale, as Singapore rises on the global stage.
In conjunction with our three hubs in the world's leading WEATTH HUBS in Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, we are well positioned in order not only to support customers in this region who want access to global skills and global markets, but also international customers who want better access to the unique Asian opportunities that may not exist in their home markets.
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