HSBC to close Raffles Place branch as bank’s pivot to wealth management deepens

SINGAPORE – HSBC Holdings will close a key retail branch in Singapore’s financial district and open a wealth centre at the same building, as the lender doubles down on serving affluent clients in one of Asia’s key financial hubs.

The branch in Raffles Place – one of six in Singapore – will shut on Feb 28, according to a notice sent to customers. HSBC expects to open an upgraded wealth centre in Singapore Land Tower in February, a spokesperson said in response to a Bloomberg News query.

The shift underscores how global lenders are retreating from traditional retail banking in Singapore to pursue the region’s booming wealth management market. Citigroup closed its last branch in the city-state in 2024 as part of a similar pivot, while HSBC has been pruning retail assets in selective markets over the past few years. 

Singapore remains a priority market for HSBC and its distribution footprint in the country will be unchanged, the spokesperson said, adding that the new Raffles Place centre aligns with the bank’s strategy to convert branches into wealth centres.

The move comes less than two weeks after HSBC opened a

strategic review of its Singapore insurance business

, as part of chief executive Georges Elhedery’s global simplification push. 

Its Raffles Place retail branch opened in 2018 under a three-year plan to expand the bank’s consumer and wholesale banking businesses in Singapore. The bank has three other wealth centres in Singapore, with the most recent opening at Star Vista in April. BLOOMBERG