Premium clients in Asia want far more than tight spreads andVIP labels. They want speed, trust, human relationships and “money‑can’t‑buy”experiences delivered at scale – and theyare prepared to move their wallet if brokers fall short.At the Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, seniorexecutives from CMC Markets, IG Group, eToro, Orient Futures, USAMGroup/PitchFintech and Returning.AI explored what high‑net‑worthand high‑activity traders in Asia really demand in 2026.Speaking on a panel titled “Join TheClub: What Premium Clients Want,” theydescribed a market where affluent traders expect frictionless onboarding,resilient technology and sophisticated tools, but still decide heavily onrelationships, referrals and lived experience on the platform.Redefining “Premium” Beyond DepositsModerator Desmond Leong, CEO of Returning.AI, framed thediscussion around three questions: how to define a premium client beyonddeposit size; which services and benefits actually increase trust and lifetimevalue; and how Asian “premium playbooks” differ from those in other regions.“It’s not just the deposit size, it’s not just the account balance,” he toldthe audience. “What else that we are not seeing but the data is showing willgive us ideas of how high‑value a client would be.”More from the event: “What Differentiates Brokers Now Is Connectivity and User Experience”: Inside FM Singapore Summit 2026On that definition, the panelists converged on behavior overbalance. IG Group’s Head of Premium Clients, Jaycee Lai, said trading intensitymatters more than headline deposits. A client with a 500,000 account who tradesonce a month is less “premium” than someone with 100,000 who trades 20 times aweek.CMC Markets’ sales trader Oriana Lizza focused on referralpower as an early signal: clients who can credibly introduce peers with similarprofiles are inherently more valuable than their initial ticket size suggests.eToro’s Head of BD and Partnerships for Asia, Qin “Nemo” Lang, described alayered segmentation model that combines referral activity, trading frequencyand even login patterns to drive CRM prioritisation.Hidden Signals: From Slippers to Same-Day WithdrawalsThe stories behind those metrics were striking. Lairecounted a walk‑in client at IG’s office inSingapore who arrived in slippers, asked “elementary” questions and deposited just 1,000 dollars after a lengthymeeting. Over the next three to six months, he kept coming back,quizzed staff on pricing and margin across asset classes, and steadilyincreased both deposits and trade sizes as his confidence grew. What lookedlike an unsophisticated small account became a high‑valuerelationship once curiosity and breadth of product exploration were taken intoaccount.Nemo described another counter‑intuitive pattern: cautious Asianclients who repeatedly deposit and withdraw small sums on the same day. Onpaper, they look like a waste of sales time. In practice, he argued, they are stress‑testingthe platform’s funding and withdrawal flowsbefore committing serious money. Focusing only on account balances would meanmissing exactly the kind of sophisticated investor who cares about operationalreliability under pressure.What Keeps Premium Clients LoyalLizza warned that brokers also overlook value closer tohome: dormant accounts. Instead of pouring budget into new acquisition, heargued, firms should revisit clients who previously showed high activity andrisk appetite but stopped trading after burning out or blowing up. Theirbehaviour already proves they have the potential; the question is how to re‑engagethem more intelligently.When the conversation shifted from who premium clients areto what keeps them loyal, three themes dominated: speed, simplicity andresilience.Keep reading: “Stablecoins Are like Sending an Email and Fiat Is like Sending a Letter in the Post”: FM Singapore 2026 HighlightsFor Lizza, the onboarding journey is now “the primarykiller” if mishandled. As competitors compress the time from application tofirst trade, laggards simply drop out of a wealthy client’s consideration set.Leong summed up the expectation bluntly: premium clients want to sign up fast,fund fast and clear KYC fast.Former banker turned fintech adviser Shane Syed argued thattime‑efficiencymatters as much as raw speed. High‑net‑worth clients may only devote anhour or two a day to their portfolio, he said; if a single platform consumesmost of that time with friction, they will not return. Q Tan Chuen Kiat, Head of Sales at Orient Futures Singapore,emphasised what happens when markets turn. He cited a client with more than 200option strikes heading into a volatile “liberation day” event. By liquidatingonly two positions to lift the account out of margin call, the firm preservedthe relationship and demonstrated prudent risk management rather than blindlyliquidating the book.Lai stressed that none of this matters if the platform failsin stress conditions. During the pandemic and again around recent tariffheadlines, he said, brokers saw unprecedented volumes, exposing the weakestsystems. For premium clients trading larger tickets, unfettered access and theability to execute and exit positions without outages or rejections duringvolatility are non‑negotiable.The panel then turned to a more strategic question: how todouble the premium book without doubling headcount. Here, AI, loyaltyprogrammes and events entered the picture.Scaling the Premium Book: AI, Loyalty and GuanxiLai argued that artificial intelligence should underpin theoperating model rather than sit at the front end as a shiny marketing tool. Byusing AI‑driven analytics to identify leading indicators offuture premium behaviour, he said, brokers can reserve human relationshipmanagers for the highest‑potential accounts and sharpentheir daily priorities. Instead of calling 50 clients at random, an RM couldfocus on a tightly defined subset where the data suggests a decisiveintervention will matter.Nemo described eToro’s approach as combining a “solidlocalized loyalty program” with brand‑building sponsorships andstructured referrals. The firm’s clubprogramme offers premium research subscriptions, dedicated account managers,discounted fees and exclusive invitations. Premier League Sponsorship Tie-UpIts long‑running Premier League sponsorship and more recent Formula 1 tie‑up create inventory for genuinelyscarce experiences, such as paddock passes, that “evenif you want to pay 20,000 you won’t haveaccess to.” In his view, premium clients areincreasingly seeking these “money‑cannot‑buy” experiences alongside financial incentives.Q challenged the orthodoxy of one‑to‑onerelationship coverage. At Orient Futures, professional clients join encryptedchat groups staffed by the full dealing desk and sales team rather than asingle point of contact, a model he said reduces key‑man risk andimproves 24‑hour responsiveness. Syed, for his part, would start by“beating the market” ontechnology, assembling a best‑of‑breed stack to wow existingclients so they become the loudest advocates.In the closing segment, the panelists compared Asia with the“old world” of Europe. Lizza framed Asia’s premium playbook in one wordrepeated three times: relationship. Deals take longer, trust is builtincrementally, and once established, that trust radiates through tight‑knitcommunities. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.