HSBC expands UK wealth bet in race to £100 billion asset goal
The London-based lender is undertaking a recruitment drive for bankers to cater to affluent, high-income and super-rich individuals, according to a statement and interview on Tuesday (Jul 8). The bank is also opening 50 dedicated spaces this year to bolster its wealth services in flagship branches across Britain.
Building on similar efforts in Asia, HSBC launched its first UK wealth centre this week in London's St James's district to boost services for ultra-wealthy individuals at its private banking division and affluent clients in the so-called 'Premier' unit, which is hiring about 200 staff this year.
'We are going all out,' Christopher Dean, managing director of HSBC UK's premier, wealth and personal banking divisions, said in an interview at the new wealth centre on Tuesday, where relationship managers can meet clients in art-walled rooms named after London's royal parks. 'In the kind of markets that we're just talking about, there's a massive opportunity,' he added.
The moves form a key part of HSBC UK's ambitions announced last year to double the assets it oversees to £100 billion (S$174 billion) by 2028. The bank is pressing on with expansion plans even as the nation faces a surge in the number of wealthy individuals leaving due to tax hikes.
One of the most controversial moves from Keir Starmer's Labour government was scrapping a regime for so-called 'non-doms', with Labour going further than measures outlined last year from the then-ruling Conservative Party by exposing rich foreigners' overseas assets to UK inheritance tax.
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The UK government is betting that its changes to the system, which allowed international investors and entrepreneurs to avoid levies on earnings from outside the UK, will bring about £33 billion in extra taxes in the coming years. A wave of think tanks are contesting those figures, however, warning of the threat to jobs and economic growth, while billionaires such as Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz and Egypt's richest man, Nassef Sawiris have recently exited the UK.
HSBC is seeing disruption among clients due to the non-dom reforms but it's still bullish on Britain's population of ultra-wealthy individuals and plans to hire staff targeting that group as well, HSBC UK chief executive officer Charles Boulton said on Tuesday. The UK has about 2,600 US dollar-millionaires, the sixth-most worldwide, according to research published this year from UBS Group.
'The number of people moving here has dropped,' Boulton said in an interview at the wealth hub, which neighbours the five-star Ritz Hotel. But 'the UK remains a centre for clients to come for professional services,' and 'we are convinced that therefore the opportunity remains'.
HSBC has joined Wall Street giants such as Goldman Sachs in focusing more on wealth management during recent years to help provide more stable profits, and chief executive officer Georges Elhedery has sought to build on that shift since taking charge in September.
HSBC has already completed refurbishing lounges for Premier customers in other parts of London, Leeds and Leicester, while the bank also plans to host private functions at its St James's premises, after opening similar hubs in Asian territories including China and Hong Kong.
'This is something that we are taking seriously,' Boulton said on HSBC's wealth-management services. Establishing the new building 'has been part of that story'. BLOOMBERG
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