Nuno Matos, HSBC
HSBC said that it will spend over $3.5bn in the next five years to meet its ambition to become the leading wealth bank in Asia, according to a statement released on Thursday.
The bank will hire around 5,000 customer-facing staff, such as relationship managers, investment counsellors and specialists to boost distribution capabilities in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Singapore; enhance its digital wealth capabilities and platforms across the region; and develop new products for its high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients.
Specifically, it will recruit up to 3,000 wealth planners to scale its mobile wealth planning service in mainland China, which was launched in mid-2020 to reach new clients outside of the branch network. To date, there are over 200 new wealth planners in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, according to the statement.
“Our new investments will allow us to grow assets under management in Asia faster than the market and increase the contribution of wealth to total WPB revenues…[and] be Asia’s leading wealth management provider by 2025,” said Nuno Matos, HSBC’s CEO for wealth and personal banking, who is one of three senior executives moving to Hong Kong from London.
Asia generates nearly half of HSBC’s $1.6trn wealth balances and 65% of the Group’s wealth revenues, according to the statement.
ASIA PIVOT
The announcement reinforces a strategy announced a year ago, which will move $100bn of capital to Asia, cut 35,000 jobs in Europe and the US, and advance plans to become a market leader in wealth management in Asia. In February 2020, HSBC combined its mass affluent, asset management, insurance and private banking operations to create the WPB business.
“Asian wealth onshore and overseas, offers one of the most compelling growth opportunities today,” said Greg Hingston, Asia regional head of WPB.
“In the next five years, we plan to extend private banking [$5m minimum wealth] in mainland China to 10 cities and more than double our Jade [$1m minimum wealth] client base in mainland China and Singapore, where we will bolster our international wealth credentials. In India, we target to be the top foreign bank for non-resident Indians,” he added.
The bank will also “continue to invest at scale in Hong Kong as it aims to capitalise on the Greater Bay Area’s new Wealth Connect scheme” to help wealthy clients gain access to a broader range of products, according to the statement.
Earlier this month, HSBC said that expanded its wealth management footprint in Southeast Asia with the launch of its onshore business in Thailand.
It also intends to step up investments in technology to build digitally-enabled financial planning platforms for all its customers, integrate wealth management services on mobile banking, improve its insurance in Greater China and create a single, core banking platform for private banking.
Meanwhile, private banking’s ultra-high net worth strategy will focus on client support in Asia and the Middle East and enhancing booking centres in Singapore, Switzerland, the UK, US and Channel Islands.
This week HSBC reported a 50% drop in fourth quarter (year-on-year) profit to $2.2bn, while also stating that it would restart paying dividends after a Bank of England restriction of shareholder payouts was partially eased late last year.
HSBC also confirmed it was exploring the disposal of its US retail network and was close to exiting its French consumer bank.
