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Enoch Yiu

DBS Hong Kong, a unit of Southeast Asia’s biggest lender, plans to hire 100 bankers in the next three years and open a new wealth centre next year to capture the growing wealth-management business in the city, according to a senior executive.
The subsidiary of the Singapore bank was pressing ahead with its expansion plan as its wealthy customers were not worried about market volatility triggered by the US-China trade war, according to Ajay Mathur, head of DBS Hong Kong’s consumer banking group and wealth management.
“The trade war and geopolitical tensions [may] have created volatility, [but] when there is volatility, it is a great time to trade currencies, bonds and equities,” Mathur said in an interview with the Post. “Our affluent clients have made the most of it.”
The benchmark Hang Seng Index plunged 13.2 per cent on April 7 after the US imposed hefty tariffs on Chinese imports, marking its largest one-day decline since October 1997. But the market recovered after both sides agreed to a 90-day truce last month.

The index has gained 24 per cent this year, after rising 18 per cent last year. Meanwhile, the average daily stock turnover in the first five months this year has jumped 120 per cent year on year to HK$242 billion (US$30.8 billion).
Mathur said the bank has seen investments increase across all asset types, including stocks, bonds and currencies this year, driven mainly by affluent clients who have at least HK$1 million to invest.
As a result, DBS would hire an additional 100 relationship managers over the next three years to capture a slice of the growing wealth-management sector, Mathur said.
The bank was also in the process of identifying a convenient location for its flagship wealth centre, which would offer clients wealth management, insurance and other financial planning services, he said. The centre would be launched next year, he added.
The proposed wealth-management centre comes after the successful launch of its first hub at 18 Queen’s Road Central last year. The plush 15,000 sq ft space targets high-net-worth customers from Hong Kong and the mainland.
“Our flagship wealth-management centre is designed to allow our bankers to establish client relationships,” he said.
DBS and its rivals like HSBC and Standard Chartered are all betting on the growing wealth management business in the city.
Hong Kong, which had HK$31 trillion of assets under management in 2023, was likely to overtake Switzerland by 2027 as the world’s top hub for cross-border wealth management, according to estimates from Boston Consulting Group.
The main drivers of the wealth-management business in the city were the increasing number of visitors from the mainland and other Asian countries following the reopening of the border in 2023 after a three-year closure due to the pandemic.
Revenue from DBS Hong Kong’s wealth-management business in the first quarter had grown 86 per cent from the same period in 2023, Mathur said.
He added that about 35 per cent came from non-Hong Kong residents, while overseas buyers accounted for half of its insurance sales. DBS does not have insurance products of its own, but sells Manulife’s policies for a fee.
“Mainland and other Asian clients are coming to Hong Kong to invest to diversify their portfolio because Hong Kong is an international financial centre with a wide range of investment products, a liquid stock market and many bond offerings,” Mathur said.
“The mainland and overseas customers also like to buy Hong Kong insurance policies for better returns and legacy planning to pass their wealth to the next generation.”


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The subsidiary of the Singapore bank plans to hire 100 bankers and open a new wealth-management centre


The subsidiary of the Singapore bank plans to hire 100 bankers and open a new wealth-management centre.


.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The subsidiary of the Singapore bank plans to hire 100 bankers and open a new wealth-management centre

The subsidiary of the Singapore bank plans to hire 100 bankers and open a new wealth-management centre