SINGAPORE - HSBC is building on Singapore's growing stature as a hub for the well-heeled by expanding its wealth businesses here and in the region.

It plans to hire around 5,000 customer-facing staff in the next five years in Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China to serve clients in the coveted sector.

The roles include relationship managers, investment counsellors and specialists to support wealthy customers.

It is already on track to bring 1,000 of these new employees on board by the end of this year, including a "significant number" in Singapore, said wealth and personal banking head Anurag Mathur.

Mr Mathur noted that despite the widening range of digital tools, the wealthy still need a personal approach when discussing their financial plans.

"We are very much building and heading towards a hybrid model for client-servicing, which means digital and human face-to-face options," he added.

"Clients want information and insights on their portfolio, which we deliver digitally. But the clients also want the human touch and the understanding, which cannot be done with a robo adviser."

But Singapore also has to deepen the skills of its local staff, said HSBC head of global private banking for South-east Asia Philip Kunz.

"One of the big challenges we face is the talent pool indeed is shallow. If you add up the number of people banks need to hire (in such roles), there are more than there are people."

Hiring is especially vital as HSBC Singapore aims to double its total wealth balances in the next five years to 2025.

Total wealth balances refer to the amount of deposits and investible assets that clients hold with HSBC across its retail, private banking and asset management segments.

Recently, HSBC said it is withdrawing from its American mass market retail banking to shift its focus to Asia.

The bank noted that since 2018, its wealth and personal banking business in Singapore has expanded its front-line wealth teams and grown total wealth balances at double-digit annualised growth rates.

This is also set to continue, with Singapore positioned as an international wealth hub.

Mr Mathur said: "Singapore has got all the ingredients right to attract investment. It's obviously a great place to live, with a stable currency and rule of law. It's an international financial centre and hub for multinationals and talent."

He added that Singapore has long attracted investors from South-east Asia such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, but even those further afield are now looking to the Republic as a place to park their wealth.

"We have seen a lot of growth from two diasporas, in particular the overseas Chinese segment, particularly from Hong Kong and China. As they grow and diversify their wealth, that's a big driver of the growth for Singapore."

The Indian diaspora from India and the Middle East are also gravitating towards Singapore as their wealth hub, Mr Mathur added.

HSBC's strategy to capture these opportunities involves strengthening its digital capabilities to suit customer demands, he said, noting that Covid-19 has also helped to boost its clients' their adoption of digital processes. The amount of wealth sales done online has doubled over the past two years.

This level of digital penetration is expected to grow by four- or five-fold in five years, he said.

"Increasingly, clients want to be able to do things on their own, especially the simpler things in their own time. Now they can open an investment account through the mobile app, trade stocks or equities and view their investment portfolios to see their gains and losses."

Mr Kunz noted that the bank is monitoring the development of cryptocurrencies, which are still quite volatile and novel.

"Regulators are still daily considering how we can best bring this into the existing world of finance," he said.

"So while it is exciting and interesting, I think that overall we are monitoring, adjusting and looking for the right moment to then take that into our world of advice and support for clients."

Separately, HSBC is also setting its sights on bringing more green products and options to clients.

The bank has a global commitment to recycle the plastic from credit cards to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.

This move will be rolled out here in the second half of the year, Mr Mathur said.