HSBC Bank Taiwan Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) has lowered the threshold of its private banking service, from individuals with assets of US$5 million to those with US$2 million, in a bid to enhance its competitiveness in the nation’s wealth management market.
The bank maintained its “Premier” service for those with assets of more than NT$3 million, private banking head Sabrina Chen (陳怡婷) told a media briefing in Taipei on Wednesday.
The changes come as HSBC Holdings PLC adjusts its wealth management business worldwide, Chen said.
The group has redefined segments of clients and merged its private banking and wealth management units in a bid to create synergy, she added.
The revised threshold is still higher than the US$1 million threshold adopted by most banks in Taiwan, she said.
Chen did not reveal the number of clients the bank has with ultra-high net worth, but said the bank is confident that its client base would grow, citing a study showing that about 600,000 Taiwanese last year had a net worth of more than US$1 million, a number expected to reach 1 million Taiwanese by 2025.
HSBC Taiwan has not considered applying to the Financial Supervisory Commission for approval of a high-asset program, which would allow it to provide clients new products such as foreign currency-denominated structured notes and derivatives, she said.
“Clients are not necessarily interested in these complicated derivatives, but they necessarily want their bank to research the products well before selling them. Generally, most of our high-net-worth clients prefer products with stable returns, rather than risky ones, so that they can see their assets grow,” she said.
The bank has improved its information system, incoporating more services into the platform for its top clients, Chen said, adding that it is the only private banking service in Taiwan that offers online services.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS