The Hong Kong/London-listed group has merged its retail banking, wealth management and global private banking arms to form a $1.4 trillion business. WPB will cover private wealth from retail clients to ultra-high net worth individuals. 

Working at HSBC for 14 years, Hingston is the head of wealth and personal banking, Hong Kong, a position he has held since 2016. His previous leadership roles include global head of strategy for retail banking and wealth management, head of customer value management and head of international, RBWM Europe, and regional head of retail banking, EMEA.

“As head of our retail business in Hong Kong, Greg was instrumental in driving growth and evolving customer experience, including bringing our social payment platform PayMe to over 1.9 million people, and advancing mobile banking and digital investment capabilities to put helpful, international banking in our customers’ pockets. Under Greg’s leadership, we’ll continue to capture market share and grow with our customers across Asia, particularly in the Greater Bay Area and ASEAN,” Charlie Nunn, CEO of Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC, said. 

After issuing its 2019 results in February, HSBC set out its new organisation aims, part of moves to boost overall profitability. Almost half of the assets in the new WPB group are from Asia: the Hong Kong/London-listed bank has, like some peers, pivoted towards the region in recent years. Across Asia, where wealth pools are growing faster than in any other region, HSBC’s wealth revenues grew by 12 per cent in 2019 (year-on-year) to $5.7 billion. HSBC said recruitment for wealth teams across Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China is “on track”. Since 2017, both businesses have recruited 800 people, including private bank relationship managers, investment counsellors, UHNW solution specialists and product specialists, and Jade directors and relationship managers, investment and insurance specialists.

Hingston will continue to cover his current role until HSBC appoints his successor.