The lender said it continues to expand onshore wealth and private banking in mainland China.

HSBC has appointed two senior private banking and wealth figures for the China market.

The Hong Kong/UK-listed group has named Max Xu (pictured below) as head of international wealth and premier banking (IWPB), HSBC China, and Samuel Chen (pictured below) as head of private banking, HSBC China. Both appointments take effect from today, it said in a statement. 

Max Xu

Samuel Chen

Xu is currently head of premier banking, IWPB China. He joined HSBC in 2025 and has more than 20 years’ experience across institutional and consumer banking. Chen brings close to 20 years of banking experience, including more than nine years with HSBC Private Bank in senior client-facing roles.

“The appointments of Max and Samuel strengthen our leadership bench as we continue to expand our onshore wealth and private banking franchise in mainland China,” Kai Zhang, head of international wealth and premier banking, Asia, said. 

Xu will report to Mark Wang, CEO of HSBC China, and functionally to Kai Zhang. Samuel will report to Xu and work with Lok Yim, regional head of HSBC Private Bank, Asia-Pacific.

The bank said mainland China is “central” to its strategic priority to become the “leading international wealth manager, particularly in Asia and the Middle East”. 

In 2025, HSBC’s group’s wealth business in mainland China said invested assets rose 37 per cent year-on-year.

Kai Zhang said: “Mainland Chinese households hold around $22 trillion in cash, including an estimated $6.5 trillion of savings that could shift into investments.”

As part of its wealth management and private bank build-out, HSBC has opened a variety of such centres around the world, for example in the UK, mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. (See stories here, here and here.)