Winners rationale

For Asian Private Banker’s inaugural Awards for Distinction – Wealth Continuum accolade, one bank stood tall above its peers in terms of providing a seamless client experience and services across the entire wealth spectrum — from mass affluent to HNW and UHNW.

During 2021, HSBC accelerated a major pivot to Asian wealth that has seen the bank hire hundreds of fresh faces in order to serve clients running the length and breadth of the wealth continuum, from Private Banking, to Jade, and Premier.

That was coupled with a dedication to boost products and services. Among its enhancements were the launch of a six-step digital investment account opening procedure for Premier clients in Hong Kong, Singapore and India — enabling them to open an investment account digitally and subsequently start investing on their mobile device within 24 hours — as well as a first-in-the-market digital portfolio advisory service in Hong Kong and a tailor-made private fund solution for HNWI clients.

Over the last 12 months, HSBC extended Lombard lending services along the client continuum. In addition, Wealth clients in Hong Kong and Singapore were able to benefit from enhanced portfolio analytics following the launch of the Aladdin Wealth platform for these account holders.

All of those efforts paid off in the form of strong business performance across Wealth client segments during the period under consideration, with revenue, AUM and net new money (NNM) all demonstrating robust growth. On the NNM front, this was driven by a balance of new client acquisitions and referrals from within HSBC. The boost to the top line was thanks to healthy inflows into mutual funds and equities.

Other landmarks for HSBC’s wealth continuum business in the region during 2021 were improvements to its digital offerings. In August 2021, HSBC GPB rolled out its messaging platform — powered by Symphony — to facilitate RM-client communication via instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and WeChat. The bank has so far seen strong adoption of these platforms.

Other digital upgrades for HNW clients in Asia include providing access to its online trading platform to trade cash equities, ETFs, and FX. According to figures shared by HSBC with the judging panel, wealth transactions via digital channels exhibited a significant increase during the period under review.

This is why HSBC is Asian Private Banker’s Best Private Bank – Wealth Continuum for 2021.