Citigroup’s Asia private bank has hired 10 per cent more advisers this year as strong capital inflows have sparked rallies in Hong Kong and other markets in the region, its Hong Kong head said.
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In an interview on Wednesday, Horace Yip Chi-ho said a growing number of wealthy clients wanted to take advantage of the rallies and were interested in alternative investments like hedge funds and private equity.
“We needed to hire more people as we have seen a growing business this year in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong,” Yip said.
He said money had been flowing in from Europe, Southeast Asia and the mainland in recent years and investors were particularly interested in rallies in Japan, the US, Hong Kong and the mainland. He also cited Hong Kong’s recent efforts to lure family offices to the city.
Banks like Citi have benefited from a growth in assets in Hong Kong. Total assets under management at the city’s 46 private banks rose 15 per cent last year to HK$10.4 trillion (US$1.3 trillion), according to the Securities and Futures Commission.
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That growth was aided by the HK$384 billion in capital that flowed in last year, as more high-net-worth individuals used the city to manage their wealth, Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief executive Eddie Yue Wai-man said last month.
HSBC Holdings, Standard Chartered, UBS, Julius Baer and DBS Bank have all recently said they would expand their wealth-management businesses in Hong Kong in the coming years.