Hong Kong’s top lenders are accelerating their Greater Bay Area efforts with ambitious investments into mass recruitment, digital infrastructure and more.

Major local lenders sped up their cross-border mainland inroads after Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) executive director Darryl Chan said two weeks ago that the «Wealth Management Connect» (WMC) scheme would launch as soon as possible, operating within existing regulatory frameworks to avoid setting up new rules.

Bank of East Asia (BEA) named ex-retail banking head Christine Lo to head its Greater Bay Area (GBA) office last week while HSBC named former business and commercial banking head Daniel Chan to head the British lender’s own unit this week. Late last year, Standard Chartered appointed ex-Taiwan CEO Anthony Lin as its GBA chief executive. 

Recruitment Splash

Senior recruitment aside, established local lenders have major GBA hiring plans, especially for young talent from Hong Kong. 

HSBC has kicked off construction of a 16,000 square meter global training center based in Guangzhou which is expected to complete by 2024. Standard Chartered said it would rotate fresh grads from its international program to GBA and is currently investing $40 million in its own Guangzhou-based center that will house more than 1,600 employees by 2023.

Bank of China (Hong Kong) established lofty targets to fund various charitable organizations with projects to offer over 110,000 positions.

Local Infrastructure

In addition to talent, banks are also focused on local infrastructure, making new investments and realizing synergies from existing assets.

HSBC has highlighted a focus on digital infrastructure and it recently became the first foreign fintech in the mainland with the launch of a Shanghai-based subsidiary.

BEA said it will leverage from its existing resources as the few Hong Kong-based banks that already has an extensive network covering all 11 cities in the GBA. The bank already launched cross-border mortgage services last year which allows Hong Kong clients to process loans to purchase real estate anywhere in the GBA without physically entering mainland China.

Product Universe

While some onlookers, such as DBS group head of treasury and markets Andrew Ng, previously predicted that the initial stages of the WMC scheme would include currency-linked products, unit trusts and equity-linked investments, regulators have opted for more low-risk investments.

Bonds will be in focus for the first stages followed by the potential for insurance, according to HKMA’s Chan.

Extra Assist

As Hong Kong banks continue to make their GBA entry and leverage digital capabilities for scaling, they may also be an incidental beneficiary of the ongoing antitrust probe against mainland China's fintech giants.

Ant Group has been the most notable target as it has been restructuring to avoid break-up or more serious consequences, exiting financial services markets such as small bank online deposit products. Its revamp plans now include conversion to become a financial firm which could potentially level the playing field with other traditional banks.