HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) yesterday launched a new wealth management platform targeting people aged 25 to 40, as more young people prefer investing over saving amid a low-interest environment, the bank said.
The online “Refreshed HSBC Advance” platform allows clients to directly buy stocks listed in the US and Hong Kong, purchase funds and exchange their New Taiwan dollars into nine foreign currencies, the bank said.
The strategy of focusing on foreign shares instead of local shares is based on HSBC’s leverage in its global network and intense competition from local stocks brokerages, HSBC Taiwan retail banking and wealth management vice president Christine Lee (李瑜芬) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Lee Ching-hui, Taipei Times
“We noticed that young investors generally prefer US shares to domestic shares, as they want to pursue higher returns even at the cost of higher risks. Compared with local stocks with stable dividends, some US stocks are more attractive, despite greater volatility,” Lee said.
The bank would consider whether to add local shares to the platform after receiving clients’ feedback, she added.
Given that all transactions would be made online over the platform, the bank would not offer insurance products or derivatives for young clients, as trading of such products requires assistance from financial consultants, Lee said.
HSBC Taiwan’s wealth management department has about 60,000 clients aged 25 to 40, and the number is expected to rise quickly, as many of them would need to invest amid a low-interest environment, retail banking and wealth management head Linda Yip (葉清玉) said.
To attract clients, the bank said its platform would also offer interest rates of 1.2 percent for demand deposits higher than NT$500,000 (US$16,934) or its equivalent in the nine foreign currencies, compared with a rate of 0.2 percent at Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政).
HSBC is the latest lender to reward its online banking clients with an interest rate of more than 1 percent, after Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) and Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行) launched similar programs this year.
“Banks are launching the programs to prepare for the upcoming entry of three Web-only banks in the market. On the other hand, customers are also more willing to open online accounts amid the coronavirus outbreak,” Lee said.
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