Standard Chartered to hire, promote 3,000 as it targets business clients, rising incomes in Asia
- Standard Chartered seeking to service clients across their life cycles, from affluent to ultra-high net worth customers, as part of wealth push in Asia
- The bank added more than 400,000 new clients in its affluent business in the 12 months ended in March
Unlike some competitors who are only aiming for the region’s wealthiest, the London-based bank is putting a significant focus on so-called affluent clients in Asia – customers with US$100,000 to US$125,000 to invest - according to Samir Subberwal, the bank’s head of consumer, private and business banking segment in Asia.
The market for the affluent and the “emerging affluent” represents a “sweet space” for the bank, which operates in more than 59 markets globally and is focused on emerging markets, Subberwal said.
“There are certain banks that are just true-blue private banks, who operate in US$20 to US$25 million [segment]. They are trying to come down in their value chain in some ways,” Subberwal said. “We are a big retail bank with a big footprint in our markets. We participate in all segments from mass market to mass affluent to affluent to ultra-high net worth. It gives us the advantage of a continuum of customers as we are acquiring customers at various life stages.”
10:01
Hong Kong can't miss Greater Bay Area boat in post-Covid-19 recovery, Victor Fung of Fung Group says
In 2020, Standard Chartered generated about US$3.5 billion in global income from about 2 million affluent customers, in line with its prior-year results despite economic challenges from the coronavirus pandemic. In the 12 months ended in March, the bank added more than 400,000 new affluent clients, with about two-thirds coming from its existing mass retail clients. The lender counted about 7.6 million mass market customers at the end of 2020.