(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc has big plans to ramp up in Singapore to build up international corporate and wealth banking as it expands its Asia footprint outside its regional hub in Hong Kong.
As he opened a new Singapore headquarters Monday on the top floors of 50-story Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 2, Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn said the city state is a “critical” market for Europe’s biggest bank. “We have every ambition to grow our business substantially here in Singapore,” he said. “We know there is very strong competition.”
The lender, based in London, also revealed that it had moved its Southeast Asia markets team for rates and currencies and its book to Singapore, without saying from where. Quinn is pushing the bank to pivot to Asia where the bank makes the bulk of its revenue in competition against both international firms such as Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc, as well as regional lenders led by DBS Group Holdings Ltd.
The bank has expanded its asset management coverage, adding a manufacturing function to its distribution and increased coverage to key markets including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. It’s scaling back operations in Europe and the US and has come under pressure by its largest shareholder to move more quickly or spin off its more profitable Asian operations.
The bank’s new office comprises more than 140,000 square feet. It has about 4,000-strong local workforce, a 16% increase from 2019 after its $529 million purchase of local insurance operations.
The bank aims to double its wealth business in Singapore by 2025, and is targeting double-digit growth in its local commercial banking business, according to a release.
The firm has earmarked $6 billion for investments over five years from 2021, half of which is going to South and Southeast Asia. Its major businesses in Asia are in Hong Kong, with 28,000 headcount, and mainland China with 35,000 employees, according to the bank’s 2021 annual report.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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