HSBC aims to focus on expanding its customer base in Hong Kong by capitalising on its position in the region to serve international clients.

HSBC has appointed Tony Leung Chiu-wai (main picture, and picture below), an internationally-recognised Asian actor, as the Hong Kong ambassador for its new wealth programme: “Wealth. Growing at every stage.”

Leung started his career at a local TV station. His career mirrors the wealth journey of many HSBC customers and reflects HSBC's commitment to connecting them with a world of opportunities, both locally and globally, the bank said in a statement.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai

With the affluent and middle-class population in mainland China projected to grow by 80 million by 2030, HSBC sees opportunities to help these customers move up the wealth ladder. Currently, HSBC Hong Kong serves over five million personal customers in Hong Kong. 

HSBC established its wealth and personal banking division in 2020, combining the strengths of its retail, wealth, private banking, insurance and asset management sectors. The integration enables HSBC’s retail banking and wealth management unit, along with its global private banking arm, to collaborate and use each other’s business network and capabilities. Together, HSBC supports clients on their investment journeys across the wealth continuum, the bank continued.

In recent years, the client base of HSBC Global Private Banking (GPB) has grown with many clients from retail transitioning to GPB. This shift has enhanced clients' access to a wider range of products and services internationally, personalised wealth, and multi-generational wealth planning.

HSBC GPB serves clients both locally and internationally across four regions: Asia, EMEA, MENA, and the Americas. HSBC’s team offers wealth management services through local experts and global insights, advising them on wealth and succession planning, governance, family offices, trusts, and philanthropy. The bank’s global network provides access to 60 markets through its private, commercial, and global banking teams for individuals, families, and businesses.

On a portfolio level, the bank has seen an increase in wallet share among relationships that were advanced from retail to GPB, measured 12 months after the transfer. This shift has fuelled a rise in the uptake of private bank-only products.

“Our full continuum banking solutions allow us to serve a range of customers and our global footprint, strong balance sheet, and exceptional wealth solutions, are particularly appealing to our affluent to ultra-high net worth customers. I am very pleased to unveil the HSBC unique continuum propositions to our domestic and international customers,” Maggie Ng, general manager of wealth and personal banking, Hong Kong, HSBC said.

As customers ascend the wealth ladder, HSBC said it has experienced growth in the assets it manages for clients. In late September HSBC’s Wealth and Personal Banking launched an enhanced Premier offering in Singapore, aimed at affluent and internationally mobile customers. HSBC said the mass-affluent segment, accounting for 11 per cent of the global population and around 40 per cent of global wealth, is “strategically important to WPB on a global scale.”