HSBC Bank Taiwan Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) is to invest hundreds of millions of dollars per year over the next five years to boost its wealth management business in Taiwan, with plans to hire at least 300 financial planners, the bank said on Thursday.
The expansion is part of a plan announced last month by London-headquartered parent company, HSBC Holdings PLC, to invest US$3.5 billion in its wealth management services in Asia, with an aim to become a leading wealth bank.
“The local market presents ample opportunity for the wealth management business,” HSBC Taiwan retail banking and wealth management head Linda Yip (葉清玉) told the Taipei Times at a media briefing in Taipei.
Photo: Reuters
The plan comes as the nation’s GDP growth has outperformed neighboring countries in the past few years, with mild inflation, which led Taiwan to ranking fourth in purchasing power parity in Asia, after Macau, Singapore and Hong Kong, she said.
“It suggested that Taiwanese on average have more idle money to invest after buying necessities, compared with those in Japan and South Korea, which means more business opportunity for us,” she said.
HSBC Taiwan predicted that the number of premier customers, which the bank defined as those with assets of more than NT$10 million (US$351,333), to rise more than 20 percent in the next five years, as many affluent customers, those with assets of more than NT$3 million, are soon expected to reach the NT$10 million threshold, Yip said.
“Taiwanese have the entrepreneurship spirit. Many start their own businesses after working at a firm for a while, and many succeed in accumulating wealth through their businesses. Our customers’ businesses are quite diverse, ranging from trade to technology,” she said.
HSBC Taiwan would recruit at least 300 customer-facing employees, including financial planners and customer relationship managers, to support its customers, while it would vet job applicants carefully after a surge of reports of employees at other banks stealing money from customers last year, she said.
“Our rewards policy is very balanced. We encourage financial planners to provide the products that meet customers’ demands and risk appetite, not those with higher commissions. We also educate our customers not to share their stamps or bankbooks with others,” she said.
The bank aims to grow its assets under management faster than the market, which would require customers’ trust and the bank offering good financial planning, Yip said.
Its premier customers are expected to contribute to growth momentum for its asset under management, but the bank would not ignore younger customers with savings of more than NT$500,000 with the bank, she said.
The bank would also improve its digital investment platform for the customers, she added.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last