HSBC Private Banking Steps Up Family Offices Strategy

Tom Burroughes

13 April 2022

figure Robert Kalff to head up its family office operations. HSBC told WealthBriefing that this is a newly created role.

At JP Morgan, Kalff was head of origination at the private bank in the UK, covering entrepreneurs, City executives and family offices.

In his new role, Kalff will boost development of the family office coverage in the UK and international markets, assuming responsibility for increasing new business development, and implementing the family office business strategy for the private bank.

Kalff has more than 25 years of investment banking and private banking experience gained across a variety of organisations including UBS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and, for the past nine years, at JP Morgan. He received his MA in law from Leiden University and studied management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

“The ultra-high net worth client group of our private banking business is our largest and of key importance. As part of our strategic growth agenda, we have increased our focus on family offices over the past year, developing our expertise to deliver a holistic offering and proposition suited to their bespoke needs,” Caroline Kitidis, regional head for UHNW, Europe, Middle East, Africa and US, said.

In 2020, the UK/Hong Kong-listed bank launched a prime services offering to support clients who want institutional access and capabilities alongside its global custody provisions. The bank has also developed its capital markets and private market capabilities with the creation of its Ultra Solutions Group and it has built out an offering across alternatives and advisory aligned to the needs of these clients.

Other senior hires in recent months include those of Laura Geiger-Pancera, joining from UBS to lead the family office coverage in Switzerland, along with Michael Fitoussi from Citigroup, heading the ultra-solutions group in the UK.