Banks in Hong Kong are turning their attention to young customers by offering online and mobile banking products.
Bank of China and Citigroup are two such banks that are trying to lure tech-savvy students and young professionals as they are about to open their first bank account. Bank of China allows clients to make cross-border payments through an app and it uses WeChat to handle customer queries.
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Citibank is also jumping on the bandwagon as it opens 19 smart branches in Hong Kong, which are modelled after Apple stores – with touch panels, video conferencing facilities and iPads to access a wide range of banking services.
For HSBC – which has put China at the centre of its global strategy – the battle to win over this segment is particularly important because its retail banking division in Hong Kong helped buoy its overall profit up 2 percent in the first half of 2015. It is also contemplating whether to shift its global headquarters to Hong Kong.
In an HSBC survey that was conducted by Nielsen last year, the bank said its market share of 18-24-year-olds was nearly two times more than Bank of China’s. Aware of the increasing need to offer more online services, its head of retail banking and wealth management in Asia-Pacific – Kevin Martin – says: "We are investing heavily in developing new capabilities to meet customers’ needs."
HSBC will be launching more products for smartphones and digital payments as well as new security features.
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By GlobalData
