An increasing number of wealthy customers from mainland China are using Hong Kong to diversify their investments and expand their businesses globally, according to a senior executive of Hong Kong-based mid-tier lender China Citic Bank International, reports the South China Morning Post. “After many government efforts to promote family offices in recent years, we have seen strong growth from wealthy mainland customers seeking our bankers to help them set up family offices in Hong Kong,” said Wendy Yuen Miu-ling, head of the bank’s personal and business banking group, in an exclusive interview.
She said the bank, which uses the name CNCBI for short, had seen new cross-border wealth-management customers from the mainland triple in the first half of this year, while assets under management jumped 30%.
The growth of the wealth-management business helped boost the bank’s fee income by 50% in the first half, while its private bank operating income increased by 60%, Yuen said.