HSBC steps up hiring to cash in on Asian goldmine
HSBC is planning to add over 1,300 new positions across Asia by 2022 to cash in on the region’s growing high-net worth wealth goldmine.
HSBC will add 700 people in the role of relationship managers, product specialists and family wealth planners with the bulk of planned hires in Hong Kong and Singapore where it will muscle against old-guard incumbents UBS, Citi and Credit Suisse in the race to manage the wealth of Asia’s rapidly growing high-net worth population, Bloomberg reports.
The world’s ultra rich are continuing to settle in Asia with the number of HNWIs growing 12.1% to 6.2 million with total wealth holdings of $21.59trn, according to a study by Capgemini. A separate study by Knight Frank notes that 1 in 25 individuals in Asia with a net worth of over $50m call Singapore home in 2017.
To respond to this shift in private wealth, the European bank has pledged to invest as much as $17bn by 2020 to expand its foothold in the region with the goal of growing revenue from Asia by at least $1bn in two years time.
The lender’s private banking expansion plan in Asia, which accounted for 75% of group-level profit last year, comes as the unit that caters to the rich is focusing once more on growth after years of restructuring.
“Asia is the key driver for future profitability in the private bank. It’s been the driver for growth even through the difficult times and it’s always remained profitable,” Peter Boyles, the departing chief executive of HSBC’s global private banking business, told Reuters.
It also aims to double Asia-based client assets by 2025, in-line with consultant Capgemini’s overall wealth growth forecast in the region over the same period, as it expands its presence in the banking hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore and also vies for a bigger share of offshore Chinese wealth.
HSBC names new wealth head
HSBC has appointed a new boss for its global wealth arm. The new head spent two years in Hong Kong as an emissary of the British bank’s former chief executive.
London-based HSBC António Simões to take over its wealth arm next year, the bank said in a statement on Monday. The Portuguese will replaces Peter Boyles, who is retiring after 43 years at HSBC.
Simões joined HSBC before the financial crisis in 2007 as head of strategy. During the crisis, he was promoted to chief of staff to then-CEO Michael Geoghegan. Simões spent the subsequent two years in Hong Kong.
The Portuguese banker is currently head of Europe as well as of HSBC Bank Plc, the UK entity.
