Standard Chartered to hire 400 staff in Hong Kong to tap growing demand for wealth management service
To meet greater demand for wealth management services Standard Chartered plans to spend HKD 200 million over three years to transform its branches in the city.
The SCMP reports that Standard Chartered plans to hire about 400 people in its retail banking and wealth management businesses in Hong Kong this year and transform its branch network as it seeks to tap greater demand from affluent customers for wealth planning.
The bank, one of three currency-issuing lenders in the city, plans to invest HKD 200 million (USD 26 million) over the next three years to reshape its 70 branches in the city, according to Lay Choo Ong, Standard Chartered’s head of consumer, private and business banking in Hong Kong. That is on top of about HK$1 billion the lender has already spent on expanding its digital capabilities in Hong Kong.
“We believe that the future is not about digital-only, is not about branch-only, but really about digital with a human touch,” Ong said. “We certainly do not think it’s about reducing the number of branches. It is much more about what you do with the space in the future.”
The bank said earlier this year it may relocate some branchesE4 , add new locations and close others as part of its revamp, but it would keep the total number of branches in the city the same at about 70.
The redesign of Standard Chartered’s branches comes as clients are using less cash – cash transactions are down about 30 per cent in its branches in Hong Kong – and seeking more wealth management solutions, Ong said.
“There is demand for meeting with people to discuss more complex financial needs,” she said.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Standard Chartered saw its client assets under management in Hong Kong increase by double digits on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter and fund flows in its wealth management increase in that period at a rate of twice its 2020 average, Ong said.
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