A new wealth management industry association has been set up to promote the industry in Hong Kong and sustain the jurisdiction’s competitive edge as a financial centre.

The Private Wealth Management Association was established in Hong Kong this month. The initiative to set up an industry association for the private wealth management industry is the result of a consultancy study sponsored by the Hong Kong Association of Banks, a statement from the PWMA said.

“The PWMA will provide a forum to discuss trends and challenges faced by the wealth management industry while also serving as a conduit for dialogue between industry participants, regulators, trade bodies and nongovernmental organisations,” it said.

The association said it is committed to promoting the adoption of a common set of appropriate competency standards among industry practitioners and will launch and administer what is called the Enhanced Competency Framework, which is designed to improve and increase the supply of practitioners in the wealth management sector.

The PWMA is founded by 19 members with an eight-member executive committee as its governing body. UBS and Deutsche Bank have been elected as chairman and vice chairman. Nancy Cheung has been appointed as managing director, head of the Secretariat; she has over twenty years of experience in the financial services industry, most recently with HSBC Private Bank, where she was responsible for strategy and planning for the private banking business in Asia.

Membership is open to authorised institutions and licensed corporations with dedicated private wealth management businesses providing personalised banking and portfolio management services.

“The Private Wealth Management Association is an extremely exciting initiative which aims not only to maintain the highest professional standards in our industry, but also to help consolidate Hong Kong’s position as a wealth management and financial services hub in Asia,” Allen Lo, country head and chief executive of UBS Hong Kong, said.

“The establishment of the Private Wealth Management Association will become an important milestone in Hong Kong in setting unified competency standards, and promoting the highest standards of both technical skills and ethics,” added Lok Yim, head of wealth Management, North Asia of Deutsche Bank.

The 19 founding members of PWMA are: Bank of China (Hong Kong), Bank of China International, The Bank of East Asia, Bank Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong Branch, BNP Paribas Wealth Management, Citibank, Coutts & Co, Credit Suisse, DBS Bank (Hong Kong), Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC Private Bank (Suisse), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia), JP Morgan Chase Bank, National Association, Nomura International (Hong Kong), Société Générale Bank & Trust, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), UBS.