HSBC’s Asian wealth balances, which include its Premier & Jade deposits and global private banking client assets, reached a new high of $810bn, accounting for nearly half (49%) of the bank’s worldwide total, according to a statement by the UK-headquartered bank.
Client assets in Asia rose 25% year-on-year to $193bn, and there was a 7% year-on-year increase in affluent and high net worth client numbers to 1.7 million. Asian wealth revenues for the first six months of 2021 increased 26% year-on-year, driving much of the 30% growth in global wealth revenues for the same period.
“The positive momentum of our Asian wealth business this year, including healthy wealth balances, increased fee income and customer number growth, shows the traction we are seeing on-the-ground with our clients, as we forge ahead with our considerable investments in technology, products, and people,” Greg Hingston, regional head of wealth and personal banking of Asia Pacific, said in the statement.
HSBC added around 600 full-time employees in the first half of 2021 to its Asia wealth and personal banking (WPB) business, including 350 personal wealth planners for HSBC Pinnacle, the bank’s mobile personal wealth planning service in mainland China.
It intends to recruit 100 more HSBC Pinnacle wealth planners than originally planned and hire over 1,000 client-facing wealth staff in Asia by the end of this year.
HSBC is “investing heavily in people, technology and products” in the next five years, including hiring over 5,000 wealth planners in Asia, in order to achieve its ambition to be the “region’s leading wealth manger by 2025”, the bank said.
In February 2020, HSBC combined its mass affluent, asset management, insurance and private banking businesses to create a single WPB unit. Asia generates nearly half of HSBC’s $1.7trn global wealth balances. In the first half of 2021, WPB posted $3.9bn in adjusted profit before tax and $4.8bn of wealth revenues.
HSBC has also accelerated its rollout of new mobile services and digital enhancements for wealth clients across key Asian markets, launching 20 new digital client initiatives this year.
Currently, around 80% of wealth sales and over 90% of securities trades registered by HSBC in Asia are conducted on digital channels. In Hong Kong, digital wealth sales increased 51% year-on-year, according to the bank.
