How to Clone Switzerland

Several years ago, executives with Singapore's major private banks came to the government with an enviable problem. Asia was minting so many rich people, and the lucrative business of managing their wealth was growing so rapidly, that there weren't enough skilled private bankers to go around. The talent shortage was so acute that banks reportedly were hiring local hairdressers and car salesmen and turning them into private bankers. They were also stealing employees from rival banks. "There were a lot of complaints to the Monetary Authority of Singapore about poaching," says Annie Wee, a former private banker with Credit Agricole Indosuez...