The region’s rich are staging a comeback. With the timeline for an economic rebound still unknown, personal fortunes may be the first to recover from the global financial meltdown. And as the rich get richer, the region’s banks are poised to catch as many big fish as they can. “The global financial crisis hit the investment portfolios of the wealthy worldwide and banks, now more than ever, need a compelling wealth management offering,” said Gul Khan, HSBC’s global head of wealth management for the bank’s Islamic entity, Amanah. HSBC and Standard Chartered, two of the region’s largest international banks, have announced efforts to expand their offerings in the premium banking market, catering to the wealthy and the super wealthy in new ways. Tough at the top The upper crust has seen losses the world over with the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires shrinking by 30 percent from 2008
