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Tag: HSBC

  • HSBC hikes Vietnam growth forecast

    HSBC hikes Vietnam growth forecast

    Lender HSBC has raised its growth forecast for Vietnam from 6.6 percent to 6.9 percent thanks to the country’s broad-based recovery from two years of Covid-19 impacts.

    Fading Omicron risks and easing of restrictions have set the basis for Vietnam’s return to normalcy, with GDP growth in the second quarter hitting 7.7 percent year-on-year, a regional outperformer, the bank reported Wednesday.

    Services, which once bore the brunt of an economic hit, have seen a meaningful recovery, while tourism-related and consumer-facing services have largely benefitted from sustained re-openings.

    Retail sales overshot 17 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, signalling a return of rebounding household consumption.

    Vietnam welcomed 0.5 million visitors in the second quarter, almost five times more than those in the first quarter, taking total tourists to 0.6 million in the first six months.

    Manufacturing continues to roar, with industrial production growth accelerated to over 25 percent year-on-year in the second quarter.

    This helped export growth hit over 20 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, a third of which came from firm computer and smartphone shipments.

    However, the impact of high energy prices is becoming increasingly clear, HSBC said.

    Elevated commodity prices have turned the trade balance into a deficit in the second quarter, likely exacerbating the deteriorating current account.

    Despite a firm rebound in household consumption, high oil prices would likely take a bite out of residents’ wallets, dampening the pace of its continued recovery.

    “Given elevated global oil prices, we expect upward pressures to inflation to persist,” the report said, adding that inflation could hit 3.5 percent this year and exceed 4 percent from the last quarter this year to the second quarter next year.

    With surging energy prices considered, the bank trimmed its Vietnam growth forecast for 2023 from 6.7 percent to 6.3 percent.

    Vietnams’ GDP expanded by 2.6 percent last year. The government targets 6-6.5 percent this year.

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  • HSBC Appoints Switzerland and EMEA Private Banking Head

    HSBC Appoints Switzerland and EMEA Private Banking Head

    A former executive vice-chairman of global wealth management of UBS Switzerland joins HSBC as head of Switzerland and EMEA private banking. Gabriel Castello is joining HSBC in Zurich and Geneva in July and taking on a wide range of responsibilities at the bank, the HSBC announced Tuesday.

    Subject to regulatory approval, Castello becomes the regional head of private banking for EMEA, CEO of the Swiss Private Bank, and country head for Switzerland starting in July. Switzerland is HSBC’s largest private banking operation in Europe.

    Castello brings more than 30 years of experience in private banking and wealth management and was previously at Quintet bank as a partner and member of the group executive committee. Before that, he was at UBS for 13 years in various roles, including CEO of France, head of wealth management in Latin America, and executive vice-chairman of global wealth management, UBS Switzerland. He also spent 17 years at CaixaBank in Spain and France.

    He takes over from Alex Classen who is leaving HSBC after nearly four years at the firm.

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  • HSBC lowers Vietnam inflation forecast

    HSBC lowers Vietnam inflation forecast

    HSBC has cut its inflation forecast for Vietnam from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent, thanks to stable food supply and weaker than expected impacts of fuel costs.

    Food and gasoline prices are two main drivers of inflation in ASEAN, but are likely to hit Vietnam less hard than other countries, the bank said.

    According to the General Statistic Office, the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 2.25 percent in the first five months this year as against 1.29 percent last year, driven by the prices of gasoline, food and some other goods.

    HSBC said Vietnam’s energy inflation has gained further momentum, with transportation, one of the items in the basket of goods and services that make up the CPI, seeing the biggest jump last month of 2.34 percent.

    The rise in global fuel prices, and reduced production by Vietnam’s biggest refinery, Nghi Son, has worsened a shortage in the country.

    The government on Monday adjusted gas prices up by 2.5 percent to VND32,370 ($1.39) a liter. It has hiked prices by over 35 percent so far this year.

    Vietnam started to feel the rising food costs, but the pressure has eased thanks to steady domestic supply, HSBC said.

    It expected inflation to temporarily surpass the government’s target of 4 percent if gas prices keep rising.

    The State Bank of Vietnam could raise interest rates by 50 percentage points in the third quarter, and another 75 points next year to cope with inflationary risks, it said.

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  • HSBC Veteran Taking Over at Quintet

    HSBC Veteran Taking Over at Quintet

    A change of leadership is underway at Luxembourg-based private bank Quintet after the previous CEO’s surprise exit. Luxembourg-based Quintet Private Bank is appointing Briton Chris Allen as CEO effective July 1, the firm said in a statement released by the firm on Monday. Allen, who most recently headed private banking in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at HSBC, spanning a 15-year career there, is replacing Jakob Stott.

    Stott, who joined Quintet in 2019 has stepped down as CEO and will leave the company after a short transition period, although no mention was made of any future roles. Stott was appointed by ex-UBS manager Juerg Zeltner, who died in 2020, and relaunched the former KBL Group as Quintet.

    During his tenure, Stott merged Quintets EU-based subsidiaries and strengthened core operations at the firm where he presided over a rise in total client assets from, around €72 million ($75 million) at the end of 2018 to nearly €100 billion by the end of last year.

    The banking group which is controlled by the ruling family of the Emirate of Qatar had entered the Swiss market with the ambition of becoming a major voice in the local wealth management industry. But just 16 months after opening following the acquisition of Bank am Bellevue, it closed shop and referred its clients to a competitor.

    After reaching an agreement with the Ticino-based private bank PKB at the end of last year on the sale of its remaining client assets, Quintet is expected to disappear from the Swiss scene by the fall at the latest.

    The private banks under Quintet’s umbrella include the following:

    • Brown Shipley (UK)
    • InsingerGilissen(Netherlands)
    • Merck Finck (Germany)
    • Puilaetco (Belgium)
    • Quintet Danmark (Denmark)
    • Quintet Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
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  • HSBC lowers Vietnam growth forecast

    HSBC lowers Vietnam growth forecast

    HSBC has lowered its GDP growth forecast for Vietnam from 6.5 percent to 6.2 percent due to inflationary pressures amid rising global energy prices.

    “Vietnam is facing multiple challenges given elevated global energy prices. It will increase its energy bills, deteriorating its terms of trade position,” the bank said.

    The country’s imports of crude oil and petroleum in March were double and four times the 2021 monthly averages, and the rising trend seems set to continue.

    This is likely to shrink Vietnam’s external metrics, making it run a second consecutive current account deficit, and higher oil prices would increase the cost of living, dampening recovery in private consumption, the lender said.

    It raised its inflation forecast for the year to 3.7 percent due to the high energy prices, saying this would increasingly call for the need for monetary normalization. The government targets inflation of not more than 4 percent.

    The bank pointed out that the GDP growth of 5 percent in the first quarter was higher than its forecast of 4.7 percent, indicating the country is firmly back on the recovery track.

    The manufacturing sector remained the key driver of growth in the first quarter, driven by a double-digit increase in electronics production.

    Exports grew by 13 percent year-on-year thanks to increased demand for electronics products though strong figures were reported across sectors like textile, footwear, machinery, and wooden products.

    With Vietnam reopening its borders on March 15, HSBC expects a “small rebound” in tourism this year.

    Authorities are hoping to get 8-9 million foreign tourists this year, 40-50 percent of the 2019 numbers.

    Economic growth of 6.2 percent will however make Vietnam one of the region’s top performers.

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  • HSBC More Than Doubles Profit

    HSBC More Than Doubles Profit

    HSBC more than doubled its profit in 2021, despite flat revenues and costs, driven by a significant improvement in expected credit losses. HSBC reported $14.7 billion in profit after tax for 2021, according to its latest results, marking a 141 percent increase compared to 2020. Revenue ($49.6 billion, down 2 percent) and operating expenses ($32.1 billion, up 1 percent) stayed flat but the bank saw a significant improvement in expected credit losses (ECL) with a net release of $900 million compared to an $8.8 billion charge last year.

    The global economic recovery supported our 2021 financial performance, as the release of expected credit losses resulted in an improvement in the profitability of the Group and all global businesses, said HSBC group chief executive Noel Quinn.

    Our interest-rate sensitive business lines continued to be adversely impacted by low-interest rates, but our net interest margin remained broadly stable during 2021 and the outlook is now significantly more positive.

    In addition to better ECLs, the bank also highlighted a higher share of profit from its associates as a key driver of the positive results in 2021, increasing 11 percent to $29.5 billion. HSBC’s principal associates include Bank of Communications and the Saudi British Bank.

    The bank was profitable across all regions, most notably in Europe where its U.K. business posted a pre-tax profit of $3.5 billion compared to a $4.2 billion loss in the previous year.

    But pre-tax profit in Asia dipped 5 percent to $12.2 billion with a material decrease in Hong Kong from $8.2 billion in 2020 to $5.9 billion in 2021.

    While the bank observes «good business momentum» coming into 2022 in most areas, with expectations of mid-single-digit lending growth, Asia may continue to see headwinds.

    The bank expects weaker performance for Asia in the first quarter, specifically within the region’s wealth unit.

  • HSBC Switzerland Turns Profits and Cuts Jobs

    HSBC Switzerland Turns Profits and Cuts Jobs

    HSBC’s turned a profit in 2021. Planned job cuts are not expected to affect the client business.

    The Swiss subsidiary of British financial group HSBC reported a pre-tax profit of $44 million last year, more than reversing the previous year’s loss of $16 million, according to the bank’s annual report.

    The wealth & personal banking division posted a pre-tax profit of 46 million dollars, with commercial banking chipping in a further 10 million.

    Locally, the unit sees itself well positioned to benefit from rising interest rates. The roughly 100 Swiss job cuts announced in February will mainly affect IT and back-office functions, as positions are relocated to more cost-effective sites.

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  • HSBC Cuts Over 100 Swiss Jobs in Geneva

    HSBC Cuts Over 100 Swiss Jobs in Geneva

    A year ago, HSBC’s Swiss private bank was still considering Geneva as a growth market. Now it is cutting jobs and reducing its office space in Geneva.

    After a bad year for Swiss private bank HSBC in which wealthy clients withdrew a net $1 billion, it is cutting 110 jobs in Switzerland and reducing office space in Geneva, British newspaper Financial Times reported Monday.

    Employees at the Quai des Bergues office in Geneva’s city center were informed last Monday that two floors of the building would be closed and more workers would have to share their desks.

    The move is part of the bank’s plan to reduce the costs of its office space in the city by around 20 percent over the next few years, making a significant contribution to improving the company’s profitability in Switzerland, according to an internal memo seen by the FT.

    The cuts in Switzerland come just a year after HSBC Group said the country was a market it wanted to invest in to grow its wealth management business.

    Many of the back- and middle-office functions will be moved to lower-cost locations, such as Poland and Mumbai, according to further reports. The reduction of office space is part of the British HSBC Group’s strategy to radically cut costs; at its headquarters in London, these costs are to be reduced by as much as 40 percent, as finews.ch also reported earlier.

    The measures taken in Geneva illustrate the pressure on HSBC’s Swiss private bank, which saw net new money outflows of around $1 billion last year.

    The FT suggests the decline was due to some very large clients withdrawing their assets, rather than a decline in the overall number of clients. HSBC will present its 2021 financial statements on February 22, 2022.

    HSBC’s spokesman said the job cuts in Geneva would have no impact on the front office, adding the bank plans to continue hiring relationship managers and investment advisors in the coming years.

    We remain fully committed to Switzerland,» he told the British newspaper. The Swiss bank will grow its business with clients from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, expand its offering to ultra-high-net-worth clients and continue to hire talent.

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  • Hong Kong Sends Bankers Home

    Hong Kong Sends Bankers Home

    Tighter government COVID-19 restrictions from Saturday already prompted UBS and other banks to re-impose workplace limits.

    The Hong Kong government yesterday announced a raft of new COVID-19 restrictions yesterday following a number of untraceable Omnicron variant cases, a step that is already prompting UBS and other banks to ask bankers to resume working from home.

    The government says on its website that the enhanced restrictions will take effect from January 7 and last for 14 days. Group gatherings of more than four people will be prohibited and restaurants will have to close at 6pm.

    All leisure and sports facilities, gyms and bars will be fully closed. It has also suspended all flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, the UK, and the U.S.

    UBS is splitting its 2,500 workforces into groups, with one working from home and the other in the office in an alternate fashion, according to a report, citing an internal memo.

    Employees have also been asked to curtail movement in the office and sharply limit socialization outside their direct teams, the memo indicates. Other banks taking similar steps include HSBC, Bank of America, and Standard Chartered, the news outlet said.

    Others are expected to follow as the restrictions come into effect.

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  • HSBC Reshuffles Commercial Bank

    HSBC Reshuffles Commercial Bank

    HSBC has reshuffled senior management at its commercial banking arm in Asia and the U.K. Amanda Murphy and Frank Fang have been named co-heads of the APAC commercial banking business, according to a statement, reporting to global commercial banking chief executive Barry O’Byrne.

    The current head of commercial banking for HSBC U.K., Murphy will relocate to Singapore to become head of commercial banking, South and Southeast Asia to oversee the local commercial banking franchises in India, Southeast Asia, Australia, and international markets.

    Frank Fang will maintain his role as head of commercial banking, Hong Kong and Macau.

    Murphy and Fang will also serve on the global and APAC commercial banking executive committees.

    Succeeding Murphy’s role as head of commercial banking for HSBC U.K. is Stuart Tait, subject to regulatory approval, who led the APAC commercial banking franchise since 2016.

    I would like to thank Tait for growing our business in Asia Pacific over the last five years – his customer-centricity will be equally instrumental in his new role, O’Byrne said.

    Focusing on Asia for growth, investment and capital deployment is a strategic priority for our global business. We aim to grow our market share in the Greater Bay Area, India and Southeast Asia, expanding our customer base and digitizing at scale to help our clients and business to capture global opportunities.

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  • HSBC Singapore Announces Lending Fund for Tech Firms

    HSBC Singapore Announces Lending Fund for Tech Firms

    The bank will support companies tapping opportunities within Asean’s growing digital economy in sectors such as e-commerce, AI and robotics, fintech, and payments platforms.

    HSBC Singapore has announced a S$200 million ($147.5 million) lending fund to support high-growth technology companies in Singapore that are looking to expand across Southeast Asia and further afield.

    The fund will provide loans to companies that have already received funding from strategic investors, including venture capital or private equity firms, and have surpassed the proof of concept phase, the announcement said. The bank will extend to them bespoke solutions, such as cross-border cash management and foreign exchange to accessing the private and public capital markets, typically available to higher revenue-generating firms.

    Singapore has a vibrant tech culture breeding firms that seek out digital gaps in the consumer and business markets. To succeed, these businesses need to scale quickly, often including customer reach, employees, and data capabilities, Regina Lee, HSBC Singapore head of commercial banking, said.

    Earlier this week, a joint report by Google, Bain, and Temasek noted that 60 million new digital consumers in Asean were added since the pandemic began, with 20 million of them coming in H1 2021.

    It said the region’s internet economy is growing faster than expected, estimating it will reach $360 billion by 2025.

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  • HSBC Mulls Private Banking Re-Entry in India

    HSBC Mulls Private Banking Re-Entry in India

    HSBC wealth and personal banking chief Nunos Matos reportedly shared that the British lender was eyeing a reentry into private banking in India, noting that the market demands a strategic decision this year.

    After exiting the Indian private banking business in 2015 as part of the group’s strategic rejig, HSBC is considering a re-entry into the onshore market in addition to serving the global segment out of hubs in Singapore, London and the Middle East.

    We want to bank mass affluent and high net worth customers. At this moment, the two major pillars we are expanding in India are insurance and asset management, said HSBC’s Nuno Matos.

    On the private banking side, we are not there yet and that’s something that demands a strategic decision this year.

    Elsewhere in the region, HSBC remains in growth mode with the China onshore private banking business expecting headcount to increase from 20 at the end of last year to 64 by 2021-end and doubling again by 2022-end.

    Matos also highlighted growth opportunities in Singapore, where it bought French insurer AXA’s assets for $575 million, and the broader Southeast Asia region.

    Asian wealth is expanding twice as fast as the rest of the world. This is a compelling opportunity for us, Matos added. I’m not going to redo now our goals but what I can say is that in 2021, we will over-deliver our goals on the wealth side.

  • HSBC Singapore Rolls Out Dart Platform for Corporates

    HSBC Singapore Rolls Out Dart Platform for Corporates

    The bank’s new online platform for corporate customers simplifies receivables collection and improves transparency and monitoring capabilities.

    HSBC Singapore is launching another digital solution for corporate customers – Dart, or the Digital Accounts Receivables Tool, which connects businesses to their customers by enabling the exchange of invoice and payment information, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

    According to the bank, receivables reconciliation remains a key challenge for treasury functions that receive and process large volumes of payments on a daily basis, particularly when identifying payers and matching with invoices.

    Supply chain resilience has become synonymous with digitization, and the receivables reconciliation process is a prime candidate for transformation, Winnie Yap, HSBC Singapore head of global liquidity and cash management, said.

    Digital Capabilities

    HSBC has rolled out a number of digitally-driven solutions for its corporate customers in recent months, including a multi-currency digital wallet for corporate customers, Omni Collect – a one-stop digital solution for all payment collections needs.

    The bank said it will progressively widen the capabilities available on Dart, as it optimizes its digital services to support customers.

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  • HSBC Profits Surge From More Released Loan Loss Reserves

    HSBC Profits Surge From More Released Loan Loss Reserves

    A continued reduction of credit loss provisions fuelled HSBC’s pre-tax profits in the third quarter to comfortably beat analyst expectations.

    HSBC registered $5.4 billion of pre-tax profits in the third quarter, according to its latest earnings report, marking a 76 percent year-on-year growth.

    This marked significant outperformance compared to analysts’ forecasts of $3.78 billion, according to compilations from the bank.

    All regions were profitable including Asia which recorded $3.3 billion of pre-tax gains, a 3.6 percent increase.

    Although reported revenue was up just a modest 1 percent to $12 billion, the bank managed to generate strong results through the reduction of loan loss reserves.

    In the third quarter, HSBC made a net release of $700 million in expected credit losses (ECL) compared to an ECL charge of $800 million in the same quarter last year.

    We had a good third-quarter performance, with strong growth in profits supported by additional credit provision releases, said HSBC CEO Noel Quinn. Our strategy remains on track, with good delivery in all areas. This was reflected in more consistent top-line growth, robust lending pipelines across our businesses, and rising trade and mortgage balances.

    The bank also highlighted a sufficiently strong capital position to prepare for share buybacks totaling up to $2 billion.

    While we retain a cautious outlook on the external risk environment, we believe that the lows of recent quarters are behind us, Quinn said. This confidence, together with our strong capital position, enables us to announce a share buyback which we expect to commence shortly.

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  • Deutsche Bank Adds Greater China Wealth Vet from HSBC

    Deutsche Bank Adds Greater China Wealth Vet from HSBC

    Deutsche Bank has hired a former HSBC executive as a managing director in its wealth management unit.

    Tse Yi-Mun joins Deutsche Bank Wealth Management as a managing director and group head for North Asia, according to a statement.

    Based in Singapore, she reports to North Asia head of wealth management Kanas Chan.

    Tse has 23 years of private banking experience, most recently with HSBC Private Banking where she was its market head for Hong Kong. Previously, she also worked for DBS and ABN AMRO covering the Greater China market.

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