The Connect system, which was introduced in 2021, seeks to foster two-way investment flows between Hong Kong, mainland China, Macao and the Greater Bay Area.

HSBC Hong Kong and Industrial Bank Company, aka Industrial Bank, have linked up with the cross-boundary Wealth Connect system which connects mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and the Greater Bay Area.

The banks’ memorandum of understanding seeks to identify collaborative opportunities in cross-border and interbank financial services. 

“This collaboration aims to meet the increasing demand for cross-boundary wealth management services in the region,” Maggie Ng, general manager and head of wealth and personal banking, Hong Kong, HSBC, said.

In February this year, a survey by HSBC of more than 2,000 residents in the Greater Bay Area found that about two-thirds of them think that liberalised Wealth Management Connect rules will boost their existing investments, or encourage them to enter for the first time. The Connect scheme was originally started in 2021. Policymakers have adjusted rules such as entry thresholds and investment quotas to boost flows. The scheme also highlights how Hong Kong is reinventing its status as being very much a conduit of capital and ideas for China as it adapts post-1997 as a former UK colony. The move also comes as policymakers in Beijing wrestle with how to revive China’s slowing economic growth.

In February, HSBC in Hong Kong said it was expanding its team of financial advisors using Wealth Portfolio Intelligence Service, a portfolio analytic available to Premier Elite and Premier customers, to provide advisory service to Southbound [mainland to Hong Kong] investors.

Maggie Ng, general manager and head of WPB, HK, HSBC (far right) and Zhang Min, vice president, Industrial Bank (far left) witnessed the signing of the MOU on Wealth Connect by Brian Hui, head of customer propositions and marketing, WPB, HK, HSBC (second from right) and Zhang Chang, Industrial Bank’s GM for retail banking platform (second from left).