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HSBC (0005) is looking to merge two of its Singapore-based entities in an effort to simplify its footprint there, a senior executive said on Thursday, stressing that the bank doesn't have plans to change the operational status of Hong Kong, including putting other entities under Singapore.
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"All of our Asia-Pacific banking entities remain under the ownership and management of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation subsidiary head officed in Hong Kong, and there is no plan to make any changes to this," said Surendra Rosha, the bank's Asia and Middle East co-chief, in a statement to Reuters.
Earlier on Thursday, Bloomberg News, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the lender was reviewing other options including bringing other regional operations under the Singapore subsidiary.
The combining of HSBC's Singapore entities will "make it simpler to serve our customers, covering them across the continuum, from personal banking to corporate and institutional, from one single platform," Hong Kong-based Rosha said.
Singapore, despite generating just US$774 million (HK$6.04 billion), or 4 percent, of group profit in the first half of this year, has long been a premier banking and wealth hub, with its political stability and HSBC's recent push to build up operations there.
In July, HSBC said it would hire 100 wealth managers and another 100 artificial intelligence specialists in Singapore.
In Hong Kong in February, the London-based bank engaged in a US$13.6 billion take-private acquisition of its affiliate, Hang Seng Bank.
Hong Kong remains HSBC's primary profit driver, generating US$7.8 billion in first-half pretax profits, or roughly 40 percent of the group's total, while also acting as an organisational platform with subsidiaries spanning Asian markets.
Any change in parent-subsidiary structure would chip away at the role of Hong Kong, which is the biggest gateway to China and its onshore and offshore capital markets.
Amid a global overhaul to restructure HSBC into four divisions with Hong Kong as a standalone unit, CEO Georges Elhedery has repeatedly voiced confidence in the offshore market as a rising cross-border wealth hub driven by Chinese capital flows.
For the first half of the year, HSBC's mainland China business recorded US$1.8 billion in profit while India generated US$965 million in profit during the same period.
Reuters and staff reporter
