Techcombank builds private banking around family wealth advice

Vietnam's growing private-banking market is reaching a scale where local banks can no longer ignore the opportunity. The country is estimated to have 25,000-30,000 resident HNWIs with at least $1 million in liquid investable assets. Yet only part of this wealth is available for active management; substantial assets remain concentrated in operating businesses, property, deposits and holdings spread across several institutions. The opportunity is therefore not simply to gather more assets, but to help wealthy families convert fragmented balance sheets into managed, diversified and intergenerational portfolios.

Techcom Wealth, which launched in September 2026, combines a CIO-led model with a 360-degree wealth approach and selected partners, strengthening Techcombank’s  proposition for HNW clients. 

The move comes as private-banking capabilities remain uneven across  Vietnam. The  market’s potential is matched by significant execution challenges: shortages of experienced advisers, limited offshore access and fragmented coordination between relationship managers, investment specialists and business bankers. Clients increasingly expect transparent advice, broader investment choice, succession planning and support connecting personal, family and business wealth.

HNW clients also want the speed and visibility of digital service without losing access to a senior private banker for complex decisions. These conditions leave room for a stronger domestic private-banking model, but competitive advantage will not come from premium privileges alone. It will depend on whether a bank can combine institutional-quality advice, integrated capabilities and technology with the discretion and personal accountability that HNW clients expect.

In response, rather than simply adding a higher-end affluent tier or leading with a specific product, Techcombank is seeking to redesign the relationship around advice, portfolio construction and long-term planning. By doing so, it is strengthening wealth planning, investment advisory, portfolio solutions and risk management while connecting banking, investment and specialist capabilities across its ecosystem.  The intention is to move from individual financial products towards a fuller understanding of clients' wealth. 

“We aim to establish a new benchmark for Private Banking in Vietnam, one that is anchored in global standards yet driven by a deep, native understanding of the Vietnamese market and its elite clientele, preserving, growing and transferring their legacy,” said  Nguyen Van Linh, Head of Premium Banking at Techcombank.

Techcombank's eligibility criteria require total assets under management (AUM) of VND 23 billion (around $0.87 million) or above, or a total financial relationship value of VND 25 billion (around $0.95 million) or above, coupled with a minimum AUM of VND 10 billion (around $0.38 million).

Connecting business, personal and family wealth

The model rests on four commitments: deeper client relationships, a holistic view of wealth, a structured advisory journey and greater support for families and succession. Central to the approach is what Techcombank calls a "One Wealth View", connecting personal assets, operating businesses, investments and family priorities.

This reflects the circumstances of many Vietnamese HNW clients, whose fortunes remain intertwined with businesses they own. Corporate cash flow, capital decisions, ownership structures and personal liquidity cannot be managed as separate conversations. To address this, the advisory relationship must coordinate bankers, investment specialists and other experts around a shared understanding of the client's risks and objectives, rather than relying on standalone product sales. 

Client behaviour is reinforcing this shift. Portfolios once concentrated in property, gold, deposits and conventional savings are beginning to include bonds, funds, structured products, offshore investments and trusts. Questions are shifting from where to invest to how to diversify, preserve liquidity, manage risk and protect wealth over longer horizons.

"The most significant shift is that today's clients look far beyond wealth creation. As the scale and structure of their assets grow increasingly complex, the focus has pivoted toward the effective, sustainable governance, protection, and transition of their legacy," Van Linh explained.  "As family members increasingly study, live, and invest across multiple countries, there is a growing demand for advisory solutions regarding cross-border asset structuring, legal compliance, taxation, and estate planning,” she added. 

From portfolio management to family continuity

The next stage of Techcombank's model extends beyond investment management into the governance of family wealth. Its CIO-led approach is intended to start with each client's objectives, liquidity needs and risk appetite (particularly relevant where HNW fortunes remain concentrated in operating companies and property) and use diversification to create more balanced, longer-term portfolios. But the bank treats succession as broader than the transfer of financial assets; ownership structures, decision-making mechanisms, key relationships and family values must also move across generations.

"Our approach is not only about preserving wealth, but about preparing both the wealth and the next generation for the future," Van Linh said.

This thinking is expressed in One Family Horizon, which combines wealth structuring with preparation of the people who will eventually assume responsibility for it. The bank says it is developing NextGen programmes with international partners to strengthen the stewardship, leadership and mindset required for future family responsibilities.

Intergenerational advice can become a long-term relationship anchor: the bank is seeking to remain relevant before, during and after a transfer, rather than entering only when assets are ready to be invested. Delivering that promise will require private bankers to coordinate investment expertise with governance, succession and family education. 

Technology as an advisory co-pilot

Techcombank's technology design is intended to turn the One Wealth View from a relationship concept into an operating capability. The Wealth Advisory Platform is designed to consolidate assets, financial liabilities and goals across clients' personal, family and business dimensions, allowing advisers to connect portfolio decisions with liquidity, protection and succession. TERA is intended to add an artificial intelligence (AI) layer, combining CIO views, client information and wider market intelligence to analyse portfolios, identify risks and opportunities and support more personalised recommendations.

 "We view technology as an enhancement to human advice, not a replacement for it," Van Linh said.

In this model, TERA supplies analytical intelligence, while wealth advisers and private bankers interpret that output in the context of family governance, business transitions and major investment decisions. Technology can make advice more consistent and scalable, but bankers remain responsible for judgement and client trust. The execution test will be whether the bank can integrate fragmented wealth data and turn AI-supported insight into timely, explainable advice.

Scaling through people, technology and partners

Over the next two to three years, Techcombank plans to build Techcom Wealth into one of Vietnam's leading wealth-management partners by investing across three mutually dependent layers. First, it will deepen private-banking capabilities in investment advisory, wealth planning, lending, family governance and succession, supported by a stronger CIO Office and international advisory standards. Second, it will continue developing the digital platform behind One Wealth View. Third, it will widen the ecosystem beyond traditional banking into wealth structuring, healthcare, education, NextGen development and family governance through a combination of in-house capabilities and strategic partners.

"The goal is to make advice more personalised, more proactive and more scalable," Van Linh said. This captures the central tension in Techcombank's growth plan; scale cannot come at the cost of the discretion and judgement expected in private banking. Its people, technology and partner ecosystem therefore cannot develop as separate workstreams. The value of the platform depends on the quality of its advisers, while the breadth of the partner network matters only if clients experience it as one coordinated relationship. 

Turning integrated wealth advice into lasting client relationships

Techcombank's direction positions private banking as an orchestrated wealth system rather than a premium customer tier. The immediate opportunity is to use its existing franchise and ecosystem to deepen its relationship with  clients whose  wealth remains fragmented and extend relationships into family governance and succession. Over time, differentiation will depend less on the breadth of products than on execution, including adviser depth, CIO credibility, data integration, partner quality and the capacity to convert insight into trusted action. Whether those elements translate into more diversified portfolios, stronger client retention and deeper advisory relationships remains to be demonstrated.