HSBC gets green light for full ownership of China venture

Headquartered in Shanghai, HSBC Life China is present in nine other key mainland cities – Beijing, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Zhongshan. The company was established in 2009 and provides annuity, whole life, critical illness and unit-linked insurance products.

“With full ownership, we will have greater flexibility in accelerating our growth plans,” said Greg Hingston, CEO designate of HSBC Global Insurance and Partnerships. “In tandem with HSBC Pinnacle, our digital and mobile wealth planning and insurance platform, we will be able to significantly expand our capabilities to serve the growing wealth and insurance needs of our customers in China, particularly in the Greater Bay Area.”

Taking full ownership of HSBC Life China is part of HSBC’s efforts to further grow its insurance business in mainland China. Through its Pinnacle platform, HSBC launched its personal financial planning business in July 2020. It has recruited almost 700 wealth planners are already onboard in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, with a goal to boost that number to 3,000 by 2025.

In February 2020, HSBC merged its retail banking and wealth management, asset management, insurance and private banking operations to create the Wealth and Personal Banking (WPB) business, which serves over 39 million customers globally.

HSBC said that it aims to become Asia’s leading wealth manager by 2025, The region generates around half of HSBC’s US$1.6 trillion global wealth balances and nearly 65% of its wealth revenues. HSBC’s global insurance businesses contributed to roughly one-third of overall WPB profits and 12% of group profits in the first half of 2021.