HK retains rank as 3rd most competitive wealth management centre

Particularly, the city is highly competitive in the high-net-worth and mass affluent space.

Hong Kong has retained its seat as the third most competitive wealth management centre around the world, the fourth edition of the International Wealth Management Centre Ranking showed.

Deloitte, which does the rankings, said HK’s is highly competitive, citing its domestic banks’ “strong position'' in both high-net-worth and mass affluent space, and its regional arms of global wealth management firms focus on the ultra high-net-worth investors.

HK’s strength, according to Deloitte, lies in its “superior talent pool and broad capital market,” while its weakness is political stability.

Meanwhile, the city also saw a slowing down in the growth of its initial market value to 3.2% in the period of 2017 to 2020. This is almost half of the growth rate recorded by its regional competitor, Singapore.

“Ongoing turbulence in 2019 and 2020 might have encouraged Asian investors to favour other booking centres, such as Singapore,” Deloitte added.

Deloitte said Hong Kong has been known as an offshore hub for domestic Chinese capital markets already, so it must now “enable investors to participate in an ever-improving onshore offering” or it might lose its attractiveness to Chinese clients.

What Hong Kong can do is increase deal flows from fundraising in primary and secondary listings of Chinese mainland companies, according to Deloitte.