Banking News
- Hang Seng Bank aims to boost retail business
Date: 7-Jun-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
HANG Seng Bank, partly owned by HSBC Holdings Plc., is keen to boost its retail banking business on the mainland after its incorporation on the mainland last week.
The Hong Kong-based bank aims to increase its headcount on the mainland to more than 2,000 by 2010, from 800 currently, and will focus on services to customers with at least 500,000 to 1 million yuan (US$65,000-130,000) of assets, according to Hang Seng Bank chairman Michael Smith.
Hang Seng Bank, whose wholly owned mainland unit is headquartered in Shanghai, also plans to increase its outlets nationwide to 50 from 16 by 2010, Smith said yesterday.
To strengthen its retail banking business, Hang Seng Bank is in talks with a number of mainland fund houses about possibly setting up a fund management joint venture, said Patrick Chan, its chief financial officer.
The bank is also interested in tapping into the country's insurance market so that it can diversify its offering of personal financial products, Smith said.
As part of its long-term plan, Hang Seng Bank expects to launch a private bank on the mainland for high net-worth customers to meet increasing market demand for wealth management services, Smith said.
In Hong Kong, Hang Seng's private bank targets customers with at least HK$10 million (US$1.28 million) in assets, Chan said.
Smith declined to give a timetable for establishing a fund venture but said the bank would prefer a joint venture to acquiring a local fund firm due to restrictions on foreign investments in the fund sector.
Mainland financial rules prevent a foreign investor from buying more than a 50 percent stake in a mainland fund company, and most fund management joint ventures are controlled by domestic partners.
Hang Seng Bank holds about a 12 percent stake in Shanghai-listed Industrial Bank, a mid-sized lender based in southern Fujian Province.
The two have set up a joint credit card operations center, which Smith said would be upgraded to a joint venture when local rules allow.
Hang Seng Bank is also in talks with China UnionPay, the central bank-backed payment network operator, on cooperation in the card business, Smith said.
In 2006, Hang Seng Bank's pretax profit from its mainland network rose by 94.2 percent to HK$134 million.
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