Diamond targets CNCB’s mainland customers who have at least HK$4 million ($515,000) or RMB$3 million in total assets and who require overseas wealth management and global asset allocation services.
It also serves CNCBI’s high-end customers who desire cross-border private wealth management, with services such as securities and foreign currency trading and investment in mutual funds, bonds, structured products and insurance investments.
“The launch of the Diamond Wealth Management service aims to meet high-end customers’ diversification and global asset allocation needs, effectively consolidating the customer base and product and service portfolio that were established by the two banks over the years,” said Li Qingping, president of the parent bank.
Li said in 2014, the number of new CNCBI private banking customers and the total income from the collaboration increased 3x over the previous year.
“[I]t is anticipated that the number of cross-border high-end customers and total asset will increase fivefold in the next three years,” she added.
CNCBI is the Hong Kong subsidiary of China CITIC Bank (CBC).
CNCBI opened private banking services for cross-border customers in 2011. Li said the volume of referral business to CNCBI by CNCB has “grown manifold year-on-year”.
Hong Kong-based Wing Lung Bank also has a cross-border wealth managment business with a robust referral pipeline from its China-based parent firm, China Merchants Bank.
Joseph Tam, executive VP and head of private banking and wealth management at Wing Lung Bank told Fund Selector Asia in an earlier interview that China’s private wealth was RMB 22trn ($3.54trn) in 2013 and is forecast to grow 84% to RMB 40trn by 2018.
