If you attended a private banking conference before the Lehman collapse, any talk of recruitment would no doubt revolve around getting bums on seats. Hire hairdressers, air hostesses and golf pros if you have to – just find someone fast who knows plenty of rich people.

The themes that emerged from the recent IBF Wealth Management Seminar in Singapore were somewhat different.

Recruitment-related issues were high on the agenda during speeches from several leading private bankers, but in describing their ideal hiring and HR strategies, the panelists used words like “holistic”, “behavioural”, “sustainable”, not to mention “mentoring”.

No, they weren’t talking at a yoga retreat – this is the new world of private banking in Asia.

It seems everyone is after experienced candidates. Jan Richards, head of JP Morgan’s private bank in Singapore, called this raising of the recruitment bar a “flight to quality”, while Marcel Kreis, Credit Suisse’s APAC private banking boss, spoke of a “flock to safety”.

Christine Ong, managing director, UBS Wealth Management Singapore, went into more detail. Two years ago, by her reckoning, about 20 per cent of private bankers in the city state were “weak” (she’s talking about the whole industry here – not just UBS). But firms have now largely weeded out professionals who couldn’t win clients’ trust.

Have experience / understand clients

In the pre-credit-crunch market, private banks were hiring and training people mainly on the basis of their product understanding and network size. “Now it’s the holistic needs of a client that’s important,” Ong told the conference.

Boom-era bankers who still love to flog complex products are currently frowned upon because their clients’ investment requirements have changed during the financial crisis. All bankers have basic technical skills, but “the ability to listen is really lacking,” said Ong.

Unfortunately for the industry, these client-centred skills are mainly found in experienced private bankers, especially those who have lived through several market cycles. Therein lies the talent shortage.

Turning people into private bankers is a long, and (as several firms have recently found out) potential fruitless process.

UBS has calculated that Singapore currently has about 1,200 proper private bankers (discounting those who still aren’t up to scratch). But over the next five years, the Lion City will need, on a conservative estimate, at least another 900 to meet the rising needs of Asia’s super wealthy.

It was clear from the conference that filling this gap with experienced bankers is the key challenge facing Singapore’s wealth management sector. Ong advised that compensation and HR strategies should be refocused to increase the quality of the private banking workforce.

Remuneration must be sustainable, she said, directly linked to client satisfaction as well as investment performance. Financial objectives should sit alongside behavioural ones, and private bankers need on-the-job mentoring by senior colleagues throughout their careers.

Banks which successfully attract quality talent over the coming years will also be best placed to attract clients. A recent JP Morgan survey found that 62 per cent of high-net-worth people in Asia have accounts with more than five banks. As Richards pointed out, that’s a much higher ratio than in the US or Europe.

In Asia, client satisfaction is therefore becoming more and more important. “So no more hiring hairdressers,” Ong told the conference.