HSBC saw a strong start to its wealth business in Asia this year, with its wealth and personal banking (WPB) segment in the region delivering US$1.2 billion of adjusted profit before tax in the first quarter, or two-thirds of global WPB profits.

Wealth revenues in Asia surged 57% year-on-year to US$1.5 billion while wealth balances grew 18%, contributing nearly half of the global total of US$1.6 trillion.

About 80% of retail wealth sales in Asia-Pacific are conducted through digital channels as clients and investors expect seamless access to financial and wealth products.

The strong performance came after the bank in February announced plans to invest over US$3.5 billion in the next five years to accelerate the growth of its WPB business in the region.

The WPB segment is on track to recruit over 1,000 client-facing wealth roles in Asia by the end of 2021 as part of the bank’s ambition to become the leading wealth manager in the region by 2025. Under the plan, HSBC will hire more than 5,000 wealth roles in the next five years, including relationship managers, investment counsellors and specialists to better support affluent, high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients in Hong Kong, mainland China and Singapore.

HSBC’s private banking business in Asia attracted US$6.6 billion of net new money (NNM) in the first quarter, up 89% year-on-year, comprising half of global NNM. In the same period, HSBC Asset Management recorded a more than fourfold increase of NNM to US$3.3 billion in Asia, contributing 29% of global inflows.

Leveraging its strengths as a global universal bank, HSBC says it continues to attract and deepen client relationships through cross-business referrals from existing commercial, corporate and institutional clients.