How DBS Turns Insight Into Impact For Wealth Clients

Forbes

07-07-2025

Prescient market calls, a well-defined investment management strategy and early access to exclusive private deals. DBS' private banking clients are gaining an edge from the Chief Investment Office's market-beating approach.
In the early days of AI investing, DBS Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Hou Wey Fook made a call that raised eyebrows; he bought Nvidia when it was recognized mainly for its graphics chips.
Hou Wey Fook, DBS Chief Investment Officer
'We launched our Barbell Strategy back in 2019 and bought Nvidia when no one was really talking about it. Our rationale was based on its global leadership in GPU technology, which—though it accounted for only 50% of revenue at the time—positioned Nvidia to benefit significantly from the subsequent explosive growth of the online gaming industry.
'Since then, its share price has risen more than 30-fold. While we've had to rebalance over the years to mitigate single stock risk, we've liked it for a long, long time,' Hou says.
It wasn't a fluke. That single decision reflected the long-term, high-conviction and, at times, contrarian approach that the DBS CIO team brings to managing client portfolios.
Hou, who has spent nearly four decades across sovereign wealth, asset management and private banking, doesn't subscribe to industry silos. Rather, his team manages portfolios holistically, looking beyond asset class labels to focus on total return and resilience.
That thinking led to the creation of the DBS Barbell Strategy, which pairs high-growth equities with income-generating assets and alternative investments. 'Most of the industry is still structured in silos based on respective asset classes, but clients don't think in those terms. They want absolute return results,' he says.
The DBS Barbell Strategy has consistently outperformed its peers since its inception. By the end of 2024, the performance of the strategy (with returns of ~14%) ranked 6th out of 172 peers, placing it in the top 5% of its category.
That track record reflects the disciplined approach taken by Hou and his team. Rather than chasing market fads, they focus on companies that demonstrate consistent, long-term growth, strong competitive advantages and reliable revenue streams. Their equity picks include large-cap names like Apple, Meta and Nvidia, alongside more specialized holdings such as Netflix, chosen for its ownership of valuable content and intellectual property—factors that contribute to pricing power and resilience.
This disciplined approach extends to the income side of the barbell portfolio. The team maintains a clear focus on investment-grade bonds, prioritizing stability and capital preservation over higher-yield but higher-risk options. The goal is to deliver steady performance without unnecessary complexity or exposure.
'That side of the portfolio is about stability. We don't need to be sexy,' Hou says. This clarity of purpose also explains why DBS has been bullish on gold since the beginning of 2024—the bullion went on to hit an all-time high last October and continues to outperform today. The CIO also pushed into short-duration investment-grade credit when others bought long-term bonds instead, which saw capital losses as rates rose.
The other key element of the CIO's approach is staying ahead of structural shifts. Hou identifies three core pillars that guide its allocations: income generators, secular growth equities and alpha-generating alternative investments. His calls on tech, ASEAN resilience and even space tourism have proven timely. "We go all in when we have conviction. With AI, we saw its impact years ago and even created deepfake videos at our events to help our clients visualize the power of the technology," he says.
The same thinking led DBS to significantly expand its offerings in private assets for its private banking clients, which now includes private equity, credit, real estate and infrastructure. Its newest private market fund, launched in April, focuses on sports, media and entertainment.
For Hou, this space exemplifies many of the qualities he looks for: scarcity, content ownership and recurring income. 'Sports is a great example. There are only so many football clubs or NBA teams. With streaming, these franchises now generate steady revenues through advertising and subscriptions,' he says.
He believes private assets have an important role to play in client portfolios. Private equity, for instance, is a valuable addition to client portfolios because of its hands-on approach. Unlike passive investors, private equity managers actively work to restructure the businesses they acquire, improve operational efficiency and scale them for global growth. These firms identify companies with untapped potential and help transform them into stronger, more competitive players. As a result, the returns from private assets are derived from 'alpha,' which refers to non-market directional returns.
'With current market turbulence, these provide a strong hedge across market cycles via non-correlating returns and illiquidity premiums,' Hou added.
Eligible clients can also gain access to exclusive funds and high-growth companies in areas such as AI, biotechnology, space and other frontier technologies through the bank's private assets client club. DBS has also facilitated profitable exits in selected deals, delivering realized returns to investors.
As a global private bank with a digital exchange, DBS provides a full suite of digital asset solutions to meet unique investment needs for private banking clients, all within a trusted and regulated ecosystem. Those seeking direct exposure to cryptocurrencies can trade via DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx), while others seeking to hedge their positions against market volatility and potentially earn yield can do so through various options structures or via structured notes.
More importantly, clients can manage their cryptocurrency portfolios alongside other traditional securities within their banking dashboard, enabling them to manage their entire portfolio holistically and seamlessly.
To help clients navigate these opportunities more systematically, the DBS CIO team recently launched a new asset allocation framework inspired by the U.S. endowment model. The framework employs a 60/40 mix of traditional and alternative assets, which include hedge funds and alternative investments. Unlike others, DBS took a more rigorous approach by using advanced statistical modeling and a proprietary data science framework to determine the optimal allocation to the various asset strategies.
'No one else has done this. We wanted it to be scientific, not based on surveys or marketing,' Hou says. His team is now working on new solutions for clients to have a holistic expression for these alternatives under its new asset allocation framework.
Still, it all comes back to conviction and clarity. In volatile markets, the ability to hold your course is what separates short-term noise from long-term value. 'Everyone can copy what Warren Buffett does. But how many people can actually adhere to and abide by the strategy? The key is discipline,' Hou says.
That discipline has shaped DBS' CIO office into a market leader that avoids fads and focuses on repeatable success. As global markets continue to shift, Hou believes the most important quality investors need isn't foresight, it's patience and consistency. "There's always opportunity. But you must stay committed, stay invested and stay focused,' he says.
While global giants from Europe and the U.S. used to dominate private banking, DBS has carved out a differentiated position by being nimbler, client-centric and willing to challenge convention. Its ability to move quickly on high-conviction calls, build transparent proprietary solutions and offer institutional-grade access to private markets has resonated with Asia's growing pool of sophisticated family offices and ultra-high net worth individuals. And as more clients look for trusted guidance through a volatile landscape, that difference is starting to matter more than ever.