Financial firms, including private banks, have sponsored the arts for some time as a way to promote brands and cement links with new and existing clients.

HSBC is sponsoring a Hong Kong-based museum of contemporary visual culture, called M+. The move is an example of the kind of cultural sponsorship involving banks around the world.

The museum is located in the West Kowloon cultural district in Hong Kong. HSBC will become its first lead partner from 1 November, the UK/Hong Kong-listed bank said in a statement yesterday. 

The partnership will encompass lead sponsorship of select M+’s special exhibitions, along with sponsorship of tours for non-governmental organisations, and a range of family-friendly learning activities under the M+ Family Day banner, the bank said. 

The bank said it also supports arts and culture through its archives, which feature different facets of Hong Kong through a huge collection of historic documents, photographs, drawings, and banknotes.

“Following the museum’s recent success of hitting the one million visitation milestone in early July, the sponsorship is a significant step towards greater accessibility of contemporary visual culture as the partnership will substantially enhance our ability in audience engagement,” Suhanya Raffel, museum director, M+, said.

(The photo shows Bernard Chan, chairman of the M+ board (left) and Luanne Lim, CEO, Hong Kong, HSBC (right) at the partnership signing ceremony.)

Financial firms, including private banks, have sponsored the arts for some time. Examples include EFG International, sponsor of The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, Banca del Fucino in Italy and its support of the Teatro dell‘Opera di Roma, and Societe Generale, the French bank, with its music sponsorship programme.

Art and wealth intersect in various ways. Last year, HSBC collaborated with MSL Hong Kong and Victor Wong, multi-media and NFT artist, to create an experience that celebrates the launch of the new HSBC Wealth Centre in Hong Kong’s K11 Atelier, which caters to HNW clients.