HSBC Private Banking has appointed Lavanya Chari as global head of products, investments and collaboration.
Chari will join on 20 July 2020. She will also be based in Hong Kong after a spell of time in Singapore.
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She joins from Deutsche bank where she most recently held the role of global head of products and solutions for private banking.
Prior to that, she ran various businesses within global markets and has been at Deutsche since 2002.
Chari will report to the CEO of HSBC Private Banking and to Annabel Spring, head of customers and products, wealth and personal banking.
HSBC PB in Asia
Greg Hingston, the unit’s regional head of wealth and personal banking business, in an interview to Reuters said that this ambitious target is part of its strategy to win a bigger share of the growing rich population in the region.
In the medium-to-long-term, the Asia-focused lender is eyeing to become top private banking company in Asia Pacific.
To achieve this, the British banking group aims to target people with over $1m investable assets, Hingston further added.
HSBC has undergone a massive overhaul recently, which includes the combination of its retail banking, wealth management, and global private banking units.
The combined wealth business came into effect on 1 May. The business currently manages assets worth approximately $1.3 trillion worldwide, of which nearly half is in Asia.
The 2019 performance of HSBC was dismal, with profit before tax slumping 33% year-on-year to $13.3bn.
The bank is also set to slash 35,000 jobs.
Recently, HSBC named Noel Quinn as its permanent CEO. The emphasis on UHNW clients aligns with Quinn’s strategy to downsize underperforming operations in Europe and the US and focus on Asia.
