Banks look to a digital future; wealth management to support growth

(Nov 18): On Nov 14, 11 banks in Hong Kong, including HSBC, OCBC Wing Hang and DBS Hong Kong, announced branch closures because of the protests in the Special Administrative Region. The South China Morning Post reported on Nov 13 that 250, or 19%, of Hong Kong’s 1,300 branches closed on that day, with another 100 closing early. In its bank closure notice, OCBC Wing Hang told customers to use other branches, ATMs or bank online.

Digitalisation and fintech have been a boon to Hong Kong’s banks during the protests. Customers can transfer money, pay bills, book restaurants, shop, pay for stocks, buy an investment product or insurance without having to go to the branch.

On Nov 1, Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS Group Holdings, announced that DBS had launched digibank, its digital bank, in Hong Kong. Digibank was first launched in India in 2016, and in Indonesia in 2017. “This year, including digibank, our Indonesian consumer business will be marginally profitable,” Gupta says. He found that his Indonesian digibank strategy worked better than his Indian digibank strategy. In Indonesia, digibank has a targeted customer strategy. In India, digibank was signing up 100,000 customers a month.

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