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Tag: HSBC

  • Hong Konger Card Game Passions Drive Digital Payments at HSBC

    Hong Konger Card Game Passions Drive Digital Payments at HSBC

    HSBC’s PayMe – Hong Kong’s largest e-wallet operator – reached 2 million users, fuelled in part by the city’s love for card and tile games.

    The 2 million users represented a 25 percent year-on-year increase as transactions in the broader e-wallet payment activity, run by 10 operators, tripled due to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s faster payment systems (FPS).

    According to HSBC’s managing director and head of PayMe Kerry Wong Chu Po-yin, the accelerated growth was driven by the ongoing pandemic and increasing bill settlements.

    We have seen above-average growth in registration and more active usage of PayMe over these few months of Covid-19 pandemic,” Wong said in an SCMP report. The increase is seen in settling of bills, including those related to online social games such as mahjong and poker.

    The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused significantly accelerated digital adoption in Asia across banks and client segments. It took PayMe 17 months to acquire its first million users but around eight months to achieve the second million.

    Need for digital access aside, the coronavirus pandemic has created a constant demand for healthcare goods – some merchants with 15,000 to 40,000 transactions in a single day involving surgical face masks, according to Wong.

    Our payment platform also helps start-ups and other businesses to accept payment easily,» she said. «Looking ahead, we will line up more big companies such as utility providers.

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  • HSBC Zones in on Family Offices in Asia

    HSBC Zones in on Family Offices in Asia

    The U.K.-headquartered bank will place a much greater focus on the family office segment in Asia following the new merger of its wealth unit.

    Over the next three years, HSBC will look to grow client assets in the unit at a double-digit rate, according to a report. The recent merger of the private banking and retail wealth business formed a unit that now manages around $1.3 trillion in assets globally including nearly half from Asia.

    And of the broader market, HSBC will look to add greater focus on wealthier clients, especially those with sufficient assets to oversee via a family office.

    With the combination, there is a big, big focus on family offices going forward,» said Greg Hingston, recently appointed regional head of wealth and personal banking at HSBC. «And it all fits within that focus around increasing penetration into the high and ultra-high net worth segments.

    In addition to segment focus, the bank has also seen a boost in digital activities in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that has reduced physical traffic and branch access.

    In Hong Kong, average monthly equity and FX transactions surged 63 percent and 65 percent, respectively. Retail activities saw similar trends with 94 percent of all regional transactions in March conducted online.

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  • HSBC Becomes Wholly-Owned Insurer in China

    HSBC Becomes Wholly-Owned Insurer in China

    HSBC agreed to buy out the other 50 percent of shares from its life insurance joint venture in mainland China in yet another milestone for foreign entry into finance on the mainland.

    HSBC will become the sole owner of HSBC Life China after acquiring the shares from its Beijing-based partner National Trust for an undisclosed sum, subject to regulatory approvals including from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

    The HSBC Life China JV was formed in 2009 and currently has a presence in nine mainland cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen. As of December 31 last year, the insurer had 1.03 billion yuan ($146 million) in registered capital.

    According to Swiss Re, China’s insurance market ranks third behind the U.S. and Japan at an estimated $318 billion in premiums. But despite the sizeable scale and the relatively long presence of some foreign players, insurers from abroad hold less than 10 percent market share due to ownership restrictions and limited geographical presence.

    With the recent reforms, which also included lifted ownership caps in the securities, futures and asset management industry, HSBC joins the likes of AXA and Allianz as foreign wholly-owned insurers in mainland China.

    «Despite the current difficult environment engendered by the Covid-19 pandemic, we continue to take steps to implement our growth strategy,» said HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn in a statement. «This transaction supports our ambition to accelerate growth within our Asian franchise, particularly in the dynamic and fast-growing Greater Bay Area, where we fully intend to expand in all lines of businesses.»

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  • More Loan Loss Provisions at HSBC After Q1 Profit Plunge

    More Loan Loss Provisions at HSBC After Q1 Profit Plunge

    HSBC reported a 48 percent year-on-year drop in pre-tax profits and increased its reserve for in anticipation of loan losses fuelled by the ongoing pandemic and volatile oil prices.

    The British lender registered $3.23 billion of quarterly pre-tax profits, falling short of the average analyst forecast of $3.67 billion. It also upped loan loss provisions by $2.4 billion to $3 billion attributing the headwinds to coronavirus and oil, citing «a significant charge related to a corporate exposure – a likely reference to reported recent troubles with oil trader Hin Leong.

    Revenue was down 5.1 percent to $13.69 billion and operating expenses also fell 4.5 percent to $7.85 billion.

    According to an HSBC statement, the outlook for world economies in 2020 has substantially worsened in the past two months» and warned of the potential for more bad loans and weaker margins from lower rates. Expect materially lower profitability in 2020, the statement added.

    On dividends – a thorny issue from the bank which has faced outrage from disappointed Hong Kong retail shareholders – the bank will review at or ahead of HSBC’s year-end results for 2020.

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  • HSBC Private Bank Managing Director to Depart

    HSBC Private Bank Managing Director to Depart

    He announced his departure on LinkedIn on Friday, saying he was «excited» to head to his next destination.

    Shang-Wei Chao, HSBC Private Banking’s Singapore and Malaysia market head, will be leaving the firm, he announced in a LinkedIn post, which was confirmed by a spokesperson at the bank.

    Chao joined HSBC in 2016, after 12 years at UBS, where he was a client advisor and desk head covering numerous Southeast Asian markets. The bank did not disclose plans for a replacement.

    Since joining HSBC Private Banking in 2016, I’ve felt that I was on an express train that didn’t need to stop to refuel, Chao said in the post.

    The bank has successfully transitioned to its strategy to get back to growth, and other transformation goals have made amazing headway, he said about his time at the firm.

  • HSBC Creates Coronavirus-Focused Restructuring Unit

    HSBC Creates Coronavirus-Focused Restructuring Unit

    HSBC is forming a global restructuring team targeting corporate clients affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

    Patrick Nolan has been named head of client leadership to lead the new team, relinquishing his previous role as global head of corporate banking, according to a report citing an internal memo.

    Also joining are Gregory Guyett, co-head of global banking and markets, and Barry O’Byrne, global head of commercial banking, who were tasked by chief executive Noel Quinn to help assemble the team. HSBC’s chief risk officer Pam Kaur will also reportedly join the new restructuring unit.

    The internal announcement of a new global restructuring team coincides with the recent news of debt troubles from oil trader Hin Leong which has been hit by turbulent commodity prices. The Singaporean reportedly owes a total of $3.85 billion to 23 banks including $600 million to HSBC, the lender with the largest exposure to the firm.

    The coronavirus pandemic and rough negotiations at OPEC have created a volatile environment for the oil market in 2020. Year-to-date, brent crude prices have plunged over 56 percent.

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  • HSBC’s Pro-Dividend Shareholders Call for Regulator Intervention

    HSBC’s Pro-Dividend Shareholders Call for Regulator Intervention

    Enraged retail investors of HSBC in Hong Kong have invoked the Securities and Futures Commission in the latest development of the HSBC dividend cancellation fiasco. A 500-strong group that claimed to be HSBC shareholders assembled at the offices of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), urging the local regulator to intervene and help reverse a decision by the British lender to scrap dividends on Bank of England orders. Leading the group was local politician Christine Fong Kwok-shan.

    The [Prudential Regulation Authority] orders have hit many retirees hard in Hong Kong, including my father who invested in HSBC shares for decades,» Fong said, according to a report that claimed SFC staff accepted the letter without commenting.

    We understand that HSBC canceled dividend payments at the order of the British regulator. As usual, it needs a regulator to talk to another regulator.

    The new group joins the growing coalition of pro-dividend shareholders that include the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, which boasts 420,000 members, and a self-dubbed HSBC Shareholder Alliance of allegedly 600 owners of HSBC stock.

    Despite the fact that dissatisfied investors have no legitimate case to push for a reversal, they continue nonetheless to mobilize in order to meet the 5 percent shareholder threshold to trigger an extraordinary general meeting and have their demands directly heard. As of Thursday, 3 percent of shareholders have pledged their support.

    We profoundly regret the impact this will have on you, your families and your businesses, said HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn in a rare letter earlier this week directly addressing Hong Kong shareholders earlier this week. We are acutely aware of how important the dividend is to our shareholders in Hong Kong. We deeply value your support as a shareholder and we never take that for granted.

  • HSBC Self-Reports Potential Money-Laundering Breaches

    HSBC Self-Reports Potential Money-Laundering Breaches

     The London-headquartered bank’s Australian unit disclosed the potential breaches in a regulatory filing last week.

    The bank flagged potential money laundering breaches to local watchdog AUSTRAC, adding that «regulators and other bodies may make findings that the bank has engaged in misconduct, including breaches of law or conduct that falls below community standards and expectations».

    The breaches include small amounts of cross-border transactions involving non-banking financial institutions which HSBC was unable to properly report due to technical reasons.

    HSBC is amongst the latest lenders in Australia to proactively disclose internal money-laundering lapses amidst the unraveling of the Westpac scandal that allegedly involved 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering laws that included payment facilitation between known child abusers. In addition to resignations, senior executives such as Brian Hartzer and Peter King, former and interim chief executive of Westpac, respectively, will face trial as defendants in a case filed by U.S. investors.

    In December last year, NAB also self-reported anti-money laundering failures with regards to mischarged fees to alleged hundreds of customers and its chairman Philip Chronican assured shareholders of reasonable enforcement.

    The message we have had from AUSTRAC is that we are not going to be measured to a perfect standard, Chronican said. We are going to be measured to a standard that we fix things when we find them and that we put the energy and resources into fixing it and we show the right attitude towards resolution of the issues.

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  • HSBC Expands Wealth Portfolio Intelligence Service

    HSBC Expands Wealth Portfolio Intelligence Service

    The bank said it expanded its service to new asset classes in response to the increasing demand for reviewing the investment portfolio due to recent market volatility.

    HSBC’s Wealth Portfolio Intelligence Service (WPIS), offered to its high-net-worth «Jade» segment, will add bonds, equities, currencies, cash and time deposits, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

    The service, powered by Blackrock’s Aladdin Wealth platform, uses similar tools that institutional investors use to analyze risk exposure. The bank said that since its introduction to Jade clients in 2019, it has generated over 20,000 reports on risk insights and analysis for their unit trust holdings.

    As the enhanced WPIS covers all the major elements of a multi-asset wealth portfolio, it «creates new opportunities to build resilient investment portfolios in alignment with clients’ personal risk and investment preferences,» said Greg Hingston, regional head of Wealth and Personal Banking, Asia Pacific, and head of Wealth and Personal Banking, Hong Kong, in the statement.

    Higher Demand for WM Services

    The bank said it is seeing increased demand for wealth management services among its affluent customers. Apart from personalized investment solutions and advisory services, Jade hopes to attract «salaried millionaires» who prioritize self-enrichment with experiential offerings and a luxury concierge.

    In 2019, four Jade Centres were opened in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. This year, HSBC opened two more Jade Centres in Hong Kong, and plans to open one in Beijing.

  • HSBC Names Asia Private Banking COO

    HSBC Names Asia Private Banking COO

    HSBC continues to bolster its private banking business in Asia with its hire of chief operating officer, who joins from J.P. Morgan’s wealth arm.

    Sharon Oh joins HSBC Private Banking as its chief operating officer, replacing Gaurav Rao, who recently relocated to London for another role within the private bank. In her new role, Oh will report to Siew Meng Tan, APAC head of HSBC Private Banking, and Anil Venuturualli, global COO of the business. A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the hire.

    Oh was most recently with J.P. Morgan’s private banking arm where she was its chief of staff in the London-based global institutional client segment. Prior to this, Oh spent five years with J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Hong Kong-based unit and was also previously Credit Suisse’s North Asia COO.

    Earlier this year, HSBC merged its retail, wealth management and private banking business into a single $1.4 trillion unit – WPB – in a bid to drive double-digit growth in client assets and revenue in the coming years.

    Oh will help us accelerate the delivery of our key initiatives and to harness the benefits of becoming part of WPB, Tan said in a statement.

  • HSBC Names Asia Private Banking COO

    HSBC Names Asia Private Banking COO

    HSBC continues to bolster its private banking business in Asia with the latest hire of chief operating officer, formerly with J.P. Morgan wealth arm.

    Sharon Oh joins HSBC Private Banking as its chief operating officer, replacing Gaurav Rao, who recently relocated to London for another role within the private bank. In her new role, Oh will report to Siew Meng Tan, APAC head of HSBC Private Banking, and Anil Venuturualli, global COO of the business. A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the hire.

    Oh was most recently with J.P. Morgan’s private banking arm where she was its chief of staff in the London-based global institutional client segment. Prior to this, Oh spent five years with J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Hong Kong-based unit and was also previously Credit Suisse’s North Asia COO.

    Earlier this year, HSBC merged its retail, wealth management and private banking business into a single $1.4 trillion unit – «WPB» – in a bid to drive double-digit growth in client assets and revenue in the coming years.

    Oh will help us accelerate the delivery of our key initiatives and to harness the benefits of becoming part of WPB, Tan said in a statement.

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  • Hong Kong Welcomes HSBC, StanChart to Relocate Home

    Hong Kong Welcomes HSBC, StanChart to Relocate Home

    HSBC and Standard Chartered were named by Hong Kong authorities as lenders which are welcome to relocate headquarters to the city where they derive the majority of profits.

    Last week, HSBC insisted that London would remain its home in the foreseeable future but reiterated its commitment to Hong Kong over the weekend, calling it one of its two home markets.

    HSBC has always had a lot of operations in Asia and Hong Kong, while a substantial portion of its profitability also comes from the region, said a report, citing the local secretary for financial services and the treasury James Lau Yee-cheong

    Likewise, Standard Chartered Bank also has significant exposure to Hong Kong and Asia. The regulations and business opportunities in Hong Kong are very good. We would welcome it – if HSBC or Standard Chartered Bank decided to relocate here.

    The issue of headquarter relocation reemerged after British lenders recently decided to scrap dividends due to orders by the Bank of England, including those with deep ties to Asia like HSBC and Standard Chartered.

    Whilst the move made sense from a U.K. perspective, the Asia-centric nature of the two banks may pose issues such as a competitive disadvantage, at least in terms of near-term profitability, due to more costly regulatory pressures thus far. In addition to sourcing four-fifths of its profits from Asia, one-third of HSBC’s shareholders are retail investors from Hong Kong, its former home and birthplace 155 years ago.

    The Hong Kong Monetary Authority followed up last week with the reassurance of healthy local balance sheets and the lacking need to cancel dividends.

    Aside from a more favorable regulatory environment for banks, Lau also highlighted ample opportunities for international lenders coupled with a business-friendly government.

    Hong Kong’s financial markets will continue to benefit from the development of Greater Bay Area projects, which will bring in a lot of opportunities to international lenders, Lau added.

    The current outbreak might lead to some slowdown, but it is not a financial crisis. The Hong Kong government has brought in many relief measures – and we will offer more – to help companies cope with the economic impact of the pandemic.

  • HSBC, StanChart to Scrap Dividends on BOE Orders

    HSBC, StanChart to Scrap Dividends on BOE Orders

    Recession fears drove the Bank of England to call the U.K.’s largest banks, including HSBC and Standard Chartered, to scrap dividends and share buybacks.

    Alongside Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, the two largest British lenders in Asia made statements to temporarily halt shareholder payouts and share buybacks for 2019 and throughout 2020 following discussion with the Bank of England. The five largest banks in the U.K. had originally planned for 7.4 billion pounds ($9.3 billion) in dividend payments over the next two months.

    In addition, the BoE also ordered banks to scrap cash bonuses to prepare for a likely recession.

    The PRA also expects banks not to pay any cash bonuses to senior staff, including all material risk-takers, and is confident that bank boards are already considering and will take any appropriate further actions with regards remuneration over coming months, said the BoE’s head of prudential regulation authority Sam Woods in a statement.

    Whilst workers will undoubtedly feel the brunt of the economic malaise, numerous efforts are being made to shift some of the burden to others including corporates and their shareholders.

    In addition to dividend cuts, banks have also committed to retaining jobs with HSBC, as well as a raft of global banking giants, recently announcing temporary halts to job cutting. The measures will retain costs that were due for unloading and over 60,000 jobs.

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  • HSBC Puts Job Cuts on Hold

    HSBC Puts Job Cuts on Hold

    Less than two weeks after being named the permanent chief executive, Noel Quinn’s path to executing the group strategy is already being derailed.

    The ongoing pandemic that will cause the bank to delay its 35,000 job cuts as part of a broader overhaul to reduce annual cost by $4.5 billion.

    Because of the extraordinary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided to pause, for the time being, the vast majority of redundancies associated with this program where notices have not already been issued said Quinn in an internal memo.

    In addition to pausing job cuts, the note, which was confirmed by a spokesperson, also said the bank would freeze hiring with the exception of a handful of roles including a small number of front-line and business-critical roles and those already with written offers.

    Any attempts to ax large numbers of jobs in the current environment will prove not only operationally difficult but also bear social costs especially as governments rush to up fiscal spending to prop the economy and support low-income earners.

    The measures we announced in February to transform the bank remain crucial, Quinn added. The decisions we are announcing today enable us to better support our people during the present uncertainty while remaining focused on our ambition to transform the bank.

    Elsewhere, banks are in fact joining governments in the economic battle to combat coronavirus headwinds. The most notable reported efforts to include American financial giants such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America which have offered to provide early payments and one-time payouts of up to $1,000 targeting workers at the frontline in branches, call centers and other operation centers.

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  • HSBC Announces Trade Finance Loan Partnership

    HSBC Announces Trade Finance Loan Partnership

    The bank will leverage big data to offer quick trade financing approvals to Hong Kong merchants on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Tmall.

    HSBC is will use third-party data to approve trade finance loans under a partnership with Alibaba Group’s smart logistics platform Cainiao Network Technology, the bank announced in a statement on Thursday.

    The service is available to merchants using Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Tmall, which currently number some 1,800. It is also hoped that the simplified financing process will help retail and assisting businesses resume normal operations amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the partners said.

    As part of the scheme, merchants will not be required to provide collateral or financial documents and can get approvals for loans of up to $500,000 within seven days. The bank is also offering a discount of 1 percent off the annual interest rate until the end of June.

    By using real-time logistics information for credit assessment, the bank hopes to make loans more accessible and better match the needs of new economy enterprises. The bank said it will explore expanding this service to other e-commerce platforms.

    There is a clear need to match the rapid evolution of the market with new solutions, and we believe the new scheme will provide adequate support to online merchants, said Jeanny Ip, head of global trade and receivables finance, Hong Kong and Macau, HSBC.

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