The wealth solutions provider continues to expand in Asia, getting the green light to open an office in Singapore.

Lombard International, the life insurance-based wealth management solutions provider, has won regulatory clearance to open an office in Singapore, as part of a drive to tap growth potential in Asia. 

The firm, which is headquartered in Luxembourg and the US, won clearance for an office from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

“The approval of this licence further extends Lombard International’s brokerage capabilities in the region as this newest subsidiary complements Lombard International’s Hong Kong brokerage office, which launched earlier this year. Both subsidiaries will serve local market needs and act as gateways for future expansion opportunities across Asia,” the firm said in a statement yesterday.

While not always as widely understood as other types of wealth management player, life insurance firms, and the structures they can put in place for high net worth clients, are an important part of the industry. One example of such a structure is the private placement insurance policy. (Other firms operating in this space include Swiss Life and Vie.) About six years ago, Scorpio Partnership, the consultancy, noted that the as-yet unfulfilled potential of insurance-wealth services was vast. In a report in 2010, Scorpio said demand for high net worth offshore insurance-linked investment in emerging markets was both large but also underserved by private banking firms. It estimated that less than 5 per cent of all wealth management portfolios in emerging markets included an insurance component. If that share rose to 15 per cent in five years, this would create a market of almost $1.2 trillion. (See a related article about the market here. And see an interview with the Lombard team in the US, here.)

Lombard International is backed by funds of US-based Blackstone Group.