HSBC continues to build out its wealth and personal banking unit which was formed a year ago out of several separate business lines.

HSBC has announced three senior appointments in its wealth and personal banking unit which was created last year.

With immediate effect, Willem Sels is appointed global chief investment officer, private banking and wealth management, while Jan-Marc Fergg is made global head of wealth products, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and mutual funds, and Patrick Boumalham takes on the role of global head of ultra-high net worth solutions.

Sels – interviewed by this news service recently - will chair the global investment committee and have functional oversight of all market strategists, content experts and asset allocation specialists globally within private banking and wealth management. Since joining HSBC in 2009, Sels was a fixed income strategist and the global chief market strategist for private banking, a role he held for the past five years. Prior to HSBC, he was global head of credit strategy at Dresdner Kleinwort and spent seven years at Goldman Sachs in fixed income, economics and commodities research. 

Jan-Marc Fergg will be responsible for the products distributed to clients in the bank’s Jade, Premier and Personal banking segments, as well as leading the teams working on funds and ETFs for wealth management and private banking. He will also develop the group’s ESG offering further. Before HSBC, Fergg spent 20 years at UBS in a variety of senior roles.

Boumalham will be responsible for managing a dedicated team of regional UNHW specialists across public and private markets. He has been global head of markets products within the private bank since 2017, having joined HSBC Global Markets in 2005 and subsequently serving in senior Investment Solutions Sales roles covering markets across the UK and Europe.  

The wealth and personal banking arm combines retail banking and wealth management, asset management, insurance and private banking. Collectively, it oversees more than $1.418 trillion in client assets, as of the second quarter of 2020. Within that group, private banking, which will continue to operate as a distinct business unit and brand, has $353 billion of client money. (See its latest financial results here.)

To see a recent senior appointment at the business group in Hong Kong, click here.