The UK-based bank wants to enhance cross-selling between Hong Kong and Singapore as a way of increasing high-net-worth client and family office business. 

HSBC is taking a unique approach towards the two key regional financial hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore, according to a report by«SCMP».

Usually, the cities are seen as fierce competitors, with Hong Kong considered to have the advantage when it comes to financial markets and investment banking. At the same time, the city-state, on the other side of the spectrum, has focused on more specialized disciplines such as wealth management and private banking.

Complementary Hubs

HSBC's head of wealth and personal banking Maggie Ng, however, said that they see both hubs as «complementary».

«Our ambition is to grow beyond just our domestic markets. Many of our customers like to set up family offices in both Hong Kong and Singapore,» she said.

Increasing Synergies

HSBC aimed to do that by exchanging talent and referring clients between both locations, given it helps the ultra-high net worth clients better manage family investments, succession planning, and philanthropic efforts, the newspaper maintained.

Despite that, the bank’s global private banking unit discontinued its independent asset management business in both Hong Kong and Singapore last month, the SCMP said.

Temporary Refocus

The desk was created in 2020 to serve family offices and the step was simply to streamline personnel and resources, Ng said.

«Our focus is to grow the ultra-high net worth family segment,» she maintains, adding that HSBC would use relationship managers to serve family offices instead.

Demographic Dividends

Separately, Kai Zhang, the bank’s head of wealth and personal banking for South Asia, said that investors saw both city’s financial hubs as gateways to opportunities in mainland China and other Asia-Pacific markets.

«International investors like to invest in Asia because of the demographic dividends (such as) a young population rising middle class and wealth in the region,» the Singapore-based banker said.

Double Digit Growth

The SCMP reported that Zhang and her team manage the wealth and insurance markets that cover Southeast Asia, India, Taiwan, and Australia and that it is a business that has logged double-digit growth in new customers in recent years, with the trend seen continuing in the future.