Strategy
HSBC's Asia Wealth Arm To Boost Headcount, Singles Out Singapore - Report

The bank reportedly said Singapore's wealth business needs to raise its performance.
The Asia retail wealth management arm of HSBC will take on another 300
staff by the end of this year, increasing a focus on Singapore,
an executive reportedly said.
The Hong Kong/London-listed bank's retail banking and wealth
management division serves clients with less than $5 million of
investable assets, while those above that threshold are served by
the bank's private banking unit.
Headcount in Singapore will rise by 50 and HSBC will roll out new
digital offerings this year, Kevin Martin, Asia-Pacific head of
retail banking and wealth management, told Reuters.
WealthBriefing has contacted HSBC for comment and may
update in due course.
The report said that the bank did not provide figures on its
wealth management headcount in Singapore at present, but noted
that the bank's business of offering advice and investment
products to affluent clients in the city-state is smaller
compared with its presence in China and Hong Kong.
"It's fair to say that our entire business in Singapore
underperformed, and we haven't hidden from that fact," Martin was
quoted by Reuters as saying, referring to the retail
banking and wealth arms.
(Editor's note: While this publication deals mainly with the
private banking side of HSBC, a rise in headcount, if it can be
achieved, for the business serving HNW and mass affluent clients
up to the $5 million AuM watermark is clearly positive news
overall. As ever, the difficulty for firms wanting to build
headcount is finding talent and holding on to it in what is a
fiercely competitive market.)