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Singapore
AsiaSoutheast Asia

HSBC eyes ‘substantial’ expansion plans from its new Singapore headquarters

  • The bank’s new office measures more than 140,000 square feet with a 4,000-strong workforce. It aims to double its wealth business in Singapore by 2025
  • HSBC also revealed that it had moved its Southeast Asia markets team for rates and currencies and its book to Singapore, without saying from where

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Signage for HSBC Holdings Plc is displayed on the building that houses its headquarters in the central business district of Singapore. Photo: Bloomberg
Bloomberg
HSBC Holdings Plc has big plans to ramp up in Singapore to build up international corporate and wealth banking as it expands its Asia footprint outside its regional hub in Hong Kong.

As he opened a new Singapore headquarters on the top floors of 50-storey Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 2, Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn said that the city state was a “critical” market for Europe’s biggest bank.

“We have every ambition to grow our business substantially here in Singapore,” he said on Monday. “We know there is very strong competition.”

HSBC Group CEO Noel Quinn, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and HSBC Singapore CEO Wong Kee Joo look at a traditional Chinese lion dancer at the official inauguration of the bank’s head office in Singapore on Monday. Photo: Reuters
HSBC Group CEO Noel Quinn, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and HSBC Singapore CEO Wong Kee Joo look at a traditional Chinese lion dancer at the official inauguration of the bank’s head office in Singapore on Monday. Photo: Reuters

The lender, based in London, also revealed that it had moved its Southeast Asia markets team for rates and currencies and its book to Singapore, without saying from where.

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Quinn is pushing the bank to pivot to Asia, where it makes the bulk of its revenue in competition against both international firms such as Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc, as well as regional lenders led by DBS Group Holdings Ltd.

The bank has expanded its asset management coverage, adding a manufacturing function to its distribution and increased coverage to key markets including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

It is scaling back operations in Europe and the US and has come under pressure by its largest shareholder to move more quickly or spin off its more profitable Asian operations.
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