Standard Chartered to invest US$1.5 billion in profit-driving wealth business

Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai are centres for wealth-management growth, bank says as it reports 19 per cent profit increase in 2024

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Standard Chartered generates much of its revenues from Asia. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:09pm, 21 Feb 2025Updated: 5:41pm, 21 Feb 2025

Standard Chartered, one of Hong Kong’s three note-issuing banks, will invest US$1.5 billion in its wealth-management business over the next five years as robust growth in serving affluent clients drove the lender’s profit 19 per cent higher in 2024.

Hong Kong would be one of the focus areas for the investment, CEO Bill Winters said on Friday.

“The wealth business has been growing very nicely, and Hong Kong is absolutely a centre of that,” Winters said, adding that Singapore, Dubai and Jersey in the UK were also important.

“Hong Kong has obviously had a little bit of a tough time over the past few years, but we feel that is stabilising and actually improving. We are investing in that market as much as we ever have.”

Standard Chartered’s investment plan is similar to that of HSBC, which said on Wednesday that it would redeploy US$1.5 billion to Hong Kong and other markets in Asia from “low return” Western markets.

Clients from China and India were becoming extremely active in wealth management, Winters said, prompting Standard Chartered to solidify its position as a leading wealth manager in Asia. It was also focusing on Africa and the Middle East, he added.