DBS Bank (Hong Kong) and Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank Corporation (SRCB) have forged an alliance to offer Wealth Management Connect (WMC) Southbound services to investors in China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA).
The banks will provide investors access to customised diversified investment products, services and digital banking capabilities.
Customers will be able to take advantage of the WMC Southbound services once their Southbound accounts are verified. The customers can submit WMC Southbound application forms through the DBS digibank HK app.
DBS, which took a controlling stake in SRCB last year, has been utilising its Asian network and wealth management capabilities to scale up the latter’s service capability in the wealth business.
The latest collaboration will see DBS’ Hong Kong unit tapping SRCB’s local network and insights to accelerate its strategic expansion into the GBA.
Furthermore, the two banks will mutually support their ambitions in the region.
DBS Bank (Hong Kong) CEO Sebastian Paredes said: “Adding SRCB as our newest WMC Southbound partner in 2022 is a major milestone in the journey of both banks in forging new opportunities for GBA investors.
“This has strengthened our ‘WMC multiple-partnership strategy’ to provide individual investors across the GBA with exceptional and more varied international wealth management services.”
DBS Bank (Hong Kong) has three Southbound partners under the WMC scheme.
According to the bank, more than 80% of its WMC Southbound service clients are new customers to the bank since the launch of the WMC scheme in last October.
The bank’s average total amount invested per WMC customer is said to reach more than CNY130,000, compared with the market average of CNY16,365.
Commenting on the partnership, Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank Corporation president Jie Yuan said: “Since DBS became our strategic investor last year, we have embarked on deeper collaboration to elevate customer experiences by introducing advanced management technology services.
“These moves advance our ‘retail + technology + ecosystem’ strategy and improve our ability to serve individual investors’ needs in the GBA.”
Last year, a report by Bloomberg said that Chinese regulators instructed banks to cap the sales of wealth management products following concerns over the sudden boom of the business in the country.
