Retail Banks

HSBC continues its commitment to building Asian Wealth Business

Kevin Martin, HSBC’s Regional Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management, has revealed the bank’s commitment to adding a further 600 employees to its Asia-Pacific business by the end of 2020.

Martin expressed that over 300 new hires are expected to be made by the end of 2019 within the retail banking and wealth management divisions, which includes the bank’s Jade service; this targets customers with an account balance exceeding USD1 million.

The bank will be focusing on building its teams in Hong Kong, Singapore and China, with HSBC having opened its first Jade Centre in China in the beginning of September 2019.

Martin said in an interview that “We continue to double down on Asia, pivot to Asia, grow Asia wealth. That's exactly what we're doing. Nothing's changed.”

His comments came following the departure of HSBC’s chief executive, John Flint, and Head of Greater China, Helen Wong; the impact of the departure of these key individuals being compounded by the slowing of Hong Kong’s economy, due to protests which have seen Hong Kong lose its status as a AA+ Financial Hub, and trade tensions between China and the US.

The commitment comes on the back of an apparent improvement on HSBC’s horizon, as the revenue of the bank’s wealth business in the region has risen by 7%, reaching USD3.1 billion for the first half of the year, with the region supplying 81% of the bank’s pre-tax profit, according to a report by the Straits Times.

"It's a very positive story for us. We continue to employ the people; the customer growth is strong. All of the undertakings we made; we are delivering on." Concluded Martin.