So what are you telling potential clients and current clients on how to best weather and manage their wealth through the volatile
times. Yeah we manage wildfire clients to help them meet their long term goals. So I think we're advising clients to always
stay investor and diversified. But clearly this from a tactical standpoint this is probably a
bit more choppy time that we're entering into. I think we are of the view that we're entering into late cycles at this point of
the cycle. Equity markets tend to be a bit choppy although there will be a wide divergence of how different sectors perform. So
selections will be key on the other hand. We have been under waiting fixed income for quite a number of years as interest
rates hit multi-year lows. And now with used back up we are beginning to see some value there. So we are advising our
clients to start adding duration through investing into high grade investment grade. Yeah that's right. You have to also
factor in the potential of overshoot that the Fed and the potential risks that there might be recession. However long that
might potentially be as well as in Europe. Yeah. So I think our base case is that the US will be able to engineer a soft
landing. And on that basis I think you know and especially clients like investing for the long term they are pockets of
opportunities that we can begin to look at. But clearly I agree with you the risk of our recessions is increasing. That is
getting increasingly hawkish. And I think you've seen the tightening in the financial conditions. That's going to take a
toll on the economy. What's the what's the risk appetite of most of your clients right now. Well obviously given the volatility
said you've seen clients are generally cautious but this is where you can really help to help them look at the long term. So
the money's really flow to help them meet their long term goals and stay invested will be important. But obviously risk
management is another thing to look at. So as long as clients are not overly leveraged I think values are beginning to emerge.
And I mentioned about fixed income. That's clearly another area where we have fairly high conviction of. Right. How have you
seen the assets under management grow. I mean the last couple of years I would assume 20 21 20 20.
Twenty three pandemics. Well was was quite blistering growth. How is that being shaped as well through some of this volatility
this year. We've been very fortunate that I think Asia has been growing at a much faster pace than the rest of the world. And
we've seen quite a significant amount of wealth creation. So obviously we've benefited from that. And you rightly pointed out
the last couple of years were actually record year for us in Asia's history. So that helps to probably give us a much
stronger long launchpad to grow our business from here onwards. But Q1 has been challenging. I think we can see if ISE capital
markets around the world have all full and in fact almost all asset classes have fallen. And so some of the less than one
correlation that we usually observe in asset classes wasn't that in Q1. So challenging time but we've seen it before. We are in
the business of managing risk. We've seen volatility like that before. So and everyone I've talked to at this summit had been
talking about you're in it for the long haul. Right. So what does that mean for hiring. I saw a report in January that you
were looking at hiring at more than 100 new private bankers for service your clients. Can you give us an update on your hiring
practices. Yeah we have. I mean you know as I mentioned growing our assets under management in the last four or five years our
expectations are that they will continue to grow at a fast pace and we hope to double again in the next four or five years. And
we need to plan for the long run. I mean talent needs time to be grown and developed. So we can't be hiring today for for the
business today. We need to hire for the long term growth. So our high unemployment remains nonexistent. We are not doing business
for the next one quarter ISE for the next one year to three or five years. So we continue to stick to our growth fund.
And clearly the other challenge unconstrained in fact ISE is really talent pool. Neal as long as I keep straight people is
that constraint is that difficult given the pandemic and the restrictions of travel to defined the right people. Yeah. Tell
them I said cell always been challenging even before the pandemic. Right. Because the industry is growing faster than I
think our ability to grow the. And so we've always adopted a two pronged approach. We don't
just hire from the industry. We actually groom and develop our own talents. We hired them from colleges and MBA schools and put
them through training programs. So they've become a steady source of talent for us which is very important. How the closed
borders in China though prevented you from building up boots on the ground presence in mainland China. Rather than run it from
Hong Kong. Yeah. So we basically cover our clients offshore wealth. So you know we don't manage that onshore wealth. But yes
you are right. I mean the Covid lockdown has greatly limits our ability to travel and to interact. Flies were on the ground.
That's that that that's definitely a bit of the headwinds. But fortunately I think technology is really amazing notwithstanding
the fact that we have pockets of lockdowns in parts of Asia not just China. I mean the last couple of years. Right. Different
parts of Asia have seen different degrees of lockdowns. But we've been managed and we have been able to manage you know
continue into communication with clients. You're in the business of a relationship management right. It's
a little bit more difficult doing it over zoom or video link. But how live through this lockdown periods in China being locked
up. How have you been able to perhaps focus on other areas whether it's Southeast Asia or other areas that you see great of
greatest opportunity. Our clients are actually scattered all across our entire Asia. And so and that's the beauty of our
business. I guess that's a bit of you know kind of complimentary and goes to all this. So but if you look at the
growth rates the past few years we've seen actually equally strong growth across all the different economies in Asia. And so
I fear our expectations they set that trajectory will continue in the next few years. And that headcount is that number right
that I talked about about 100 hires this year for your bank. So we continue to grow. I mean we are planning to add more
for sure advisors in the region. But I mentioned right at the end of the day it depends on the availability of the right type
of tallies. So if you get the right type of talents. Yes. Yes. Hiring.