Standard Chartered is spending US$128m to set up a greater China private banking hub in Hong Kong as the UK bank's structured products business is buoyed by a doubling in the number of Chinese clients.
The "Greater China private banking hub," located very close to the former British colony's stock exchange, will cover five office floors and will house more than 300 staff when it opens in early 2014.
"Whilst structured products are an important part of our clients' portfolios, we at Standard Chartered believe in diversification amongst types of investment product as well as asset classes," Standard Chartered Private Bank's global head of relationship management, investment advisory and fiduciary, Gary Tiernan (pictured), told SRP. "We focus on a holistic view of our clients' needs and balance the short term views with building meaningful long term relationships."
Tiernan said that structured products are enjoying robust growth in China although clients are generally showing a preference towards fixed income products which reflect the current economic uncertainty.
Bank chief executive Benjamin Hung said that Standard Chartered's private banking business had grown by nearly a third over the last two years with income from the high value segment rising by 20% and projections looking profitable, following the rising wealth from mainland China.
Mary Huen, head of consumer banking said that the number of clients from the region had doubled in just 12 months.