HSBC boosts private bank as Asia escapes staff cuts
If you're one of HSBC's 296,000 employees, Asia is probably the best place to escape the up to US$3.5bn worth of savings the bank plans to make within the next three years. You're sitting even safer as a private banker in Singapore because wealth management is a function the firm is trying to bolster.
HSBC is set to begin assessing whether it should stay in a country or line of business. It has appointed Boston Consulting to study head-office costs and analysts expect it to reduce some of its Latin American and European operations. More details should follow over the next year.
Announcing the cost-cutting target on Wednesday, chief executive Stuart Gulliver identified Singapore, Hong Kong and China as key to future growth. And in an interview with today's Business Times, Singapore chief executive Alex Hungate said the firm will add 1,000 new staff to its current 3,500-strong headcount by 2016. He wants the city state to join Hong Kong as a centre which delivers US$1bn in profits before tax for the bank.
Hungate puts wealth management alongside trade finance as two of the businesses which will benefit from the Singaporean expansion. Private banking headhunters confirm that HSBC is actively looking for relationship managers. It has recently made MD-level hires including William Lawton, head of the South Asia investment group, and Jeffrey Benjamin, who manages the international private wealth team.
The private bank in Singapore is targeting expat clients and building its Indonesia and North Asia desks, says one recruiter who asked not to be named. But he adds that it has also "lost people because of personality clashes and what some saw as demotions".
HSBC Private Bank mainly targets ultra high net worth (UHNW) clients and is looking for bankers in this sector. "It could hire from anyone, from DBS to UBS, as long as their focus is UHNW," says the headhunter.
He adds: "HSBC is a sleeping giant in private banking in Singapore and I think it will get bigger and better. It pays well, has a strong product range and strong links to emerging markets."
