Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Hong Kong’s super-rich need more money managers, investment specialists as crisis, evolving trends threaten talent gap: survey

Hong Kong’s super-rich need more money managers, investment specialists as crisis, evolving trends threaten talent gap: survey

Some 75 per cent of respondents point to talent gap as a challenge for Hong Kong’s wealth management industry, government council says. Hong Kong’s proximity to mainland market to underpin its future growth as the rank of super-rich Chinese swells, survey shows

Hong Kong has the second largest number of billionaires in the world and the most millionaires in the region. For all the US$3.25 trillion of investable wealth, though, the pool of money managers and investment advisers is not growing fast enough.

The talent gap is among the biggest challenges facing the city in the private wealth management industry, according to a survey conducted by the Financial Services Development Council, a government-funded body tasked with promoting the sector.

The view was expressed by 75 per cent of 250 private bankers and wealth managers it surveyed from November 11 to 26 last year, and published last week. Hong Kong had 7,604 staff in the sector in 2018, including 2,711 in customer-facing roles, the council said, citing data from the Securities and Futures Commission.

The shortage could become more acute in the coming years “given the evolving trends, and technological and regulatory contexts globally, the council said, reflecting the view of other industry participants. Anti-government protests and the coronavirus epidemic could also add the problem in the short-term.

“The social unrest has led some bankers to migrate to other countries including Singapore,” said Jerry Chang, managing director at Barons & Co, a recruiting firm. “In addition, the Covid-19 outbreak could temporarily affect Hong Kong’s ability to attract new talents.”

There was US$3.25 trillion of investable wealth sloshing in Hong Kong in 2018, with US$1.3 trillion coming from cross-border sources, according to the council’s report that cited third-party market statistics. That compares with US$1.67 trillion and $1 trillion respectively for Singapore.

The global population of high-net-worth individuals, or those with at least US$1 million of investable assets, is forecast to swell to US$91 trillion by 2023 from US$70 trillion in 2018, according to a joint report by Deutsche Bank and Oliver Wymann published in May last year.

There were more than 153,000 millionaires owning US$778 billion of wealth in Hong Kong, compared with about 125,000 with US$625 billion in Singapore, based on a CapGemini survey, the council said in its report.

“Impact of the outbreak, whilst keenly felt by us everyday, is necessarily short-term,” council chairman Laurence Li Lu-jen said by phone last week. While the talent gap is obvious in such functions as portfolio managers and investment specialists and compliance officers, Li did quantify the number needed to support the industry.

Hong Kong’s geographical proximity to mainland China will help the city retain its edge against other aspiring hubs, according to Claude Haberer, Asia chairman for the Swiss private bank Pictet. There has been no noticeable departure of talents from the city, he added.

“Finding good talent is always a challenge for our industry but the virus outbreak has not exacerbated the problem,” Haberer said. “Hong Kong people have shown that they are well-prepared, probably because of their experience with Sars” [severe acute respiratory syndrome] in 2003, he added.



Barons’s Chang said any short-term pressures in Hong Kong should not change the overall employment market for its opportunities in China, and the city’s advantages in an established legal structures, low tax rates and free and efficient financial market.

The potential establishment of a cross-boundary wealth management scheme involving Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong within the Greater Bay Area blueprint “will be a catalyst to the further development of the wealth management industry”, the council said in its report.

The southern Guangdong province is the second-richest in China, based on 160,000 households in 2019 owning more than RMB10million of investable assets, according to a Hurun Report.

Most of the respondents in the FSDC survey were optimistic in their longer-term view of Hong Kong’s position in the industry, despite the fact that the survey was conducted at the peak of anti-government protests.

Forty-five per cent cited the availability of a wide range of investment products among the positives, while 34 per cent favoured the city for the access to mainland financial market – via stock and bond connect schemes.

“Hong Kong has always come back after every crisis,” Pictet’s Haberer said. “The outbreak may affect the city for a short while but it will not be forever. I still consider Hong Kong as a very good place to do business as it is convenient. It is close to mainland China and other parts of Asia.”

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×