Rolls-Royce owning MD leaves Bank of Singapore for a much bigger job

Bank of Singapore (BoS) managing director Patrick Saurini has left to become head of wealth management and deputy CEO at SMBC in Singapore.

Saurini, a veteran private banker with a passion for polo and classic cars, had been with BoS since January 2018 and was focused on  global families and private investment offices, according to his LinkedIn profile.

While SMBC has a much smaller presence in Singapore than BoS, Saurini’s move into the ranks of upper management is nevertheless a step up. Singapore has been SMBC’s Asia Pacific hub for the past 12 years.

SMBC and BoS also work closely together in the city state. In 2018, BoS and SMBC Trust Bank, a wholly owned unit of the Japanese firm, signed a memorandum of understanding to provide SMBC clients with a range of global investment products.

Prior to BoS, Saurini spent more than six years at Edmond de Rothschild, initially as an executive director covering family offices and institutional clients across Asia Pacific and Middle East. He then moved to the firm’s headquarters in Geneva in 2014 and was promoted to MD.

Saurini worked in Edmond de Rothschild’s Hong Kong office between 2015 and 2017 in a relationship management and business development role.

It was while in Hong Kong that Saurini brought a rare 1975 Rolls-Royce Camargue coupe, one of only 530 ever produced. “Here was number 29 sitting in a garage at my friend’s place near the border of Shenzhen, China. It was love at first sight and I had to have it,” Saurini told the Straits Times in an interview about the car last year.

The banker imported the Rolls into Singapore in 2018 after he landed his job at BoS. He also got it fully restored and registered as a classic vehicle, which means it attracts lower taxes, but can be used only 45 days a year. Not everyone shares Saurini’s automotive tastes – the Camargue ranked 38 in the 2005 book Crap Cars published by the BBC. “The British did not appreciate it when it was launched in 1975, but I do,” Saurini said.

Saurini, who grew up in Milan, also enjoys playing polo at the Singapore Polo Club.

Photo by Anders Nord on Unsplash

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