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Global banks and life-insurance groups are setting their sights on Hong Kong's wealth-management business to cash in on the growing ranks of the rich.

Zurich-based wealth-management giant UBS is leading the charge, erecting a huge billboard in the city to announce the opening of its new office in the busy commercial district of Tsim Sha Tsui.

The towering new sign, claimed to be the largest outdoor billboard in the Asia-Pacific region, dominates the Kowloon skyline, as seen from the UBS office in the International Financial Centre at the tip of Hong Kong Island, where Amy Lo Choi-wan, head of UBS Wealth Management for Greater China and head of UBS Hong Kong, laid out the bank's goals.

The new office across the harbor, she noted, is located in a "better-than-ever site", which benefits from an easy link to the airport, the upcoming Guangzhou high-speed rail link and the district's increasing popularity as "Kowloon's Central" among local and global firms.

With nearly $70 billion in assets under its management in Hong Kong out of a total of $272 billion in the Asia Pacific last year, UBS, hailed as the city's largest private-wealth manager, is enjoying a sizable footprint here.

Having established its brand in Hong Kong for more than 50 years, UBS enjoys more traction among clients based on Hong Kong Island, the traditional base for the wealthy elite. The new office represents the bank's major push to expand its client base to include entrepreneurs in Kowloon and the New Territories.

According to Lo, UBS's market penetration among high-net-worth entrepreneurs with assets of $5 million to $25 million in Kowloon is as low as single digit.

To beef up its presence, UBS is stepping up its efforts to reach out to the growing legion of Kowloon-based entrepreneurs, who don't have the time or inclination to cross the harbor to meet their bankers.

Most Kowloon-based entrepreneurs are baby boomers who are going through transitions in their lives and are in need of succession as well as retirement planning, Lo said. This relatively new group of clients is less familiar with wealth management and private-banking products.

"Our initiative in Kowloon is more of a strategic decision to show our prospective clients that we are here for you, and we can grow together with you."

UBS's move to Kowloon comes at a time when international banks are being hamstrung by increasingly onerous regulatory requirements, forcing some, including, Standard Chartered and Japan's Nomura, to scale back their operations in Hong Kong.

Lo said wealth management stands out as a green pasture as more and more family-owned enterprises are setting up their global family offices in Hong Kong to tap into the business opportunities on the Chinese mainland and in Asia.

More important, she said, the number of millionaires in Hong Kong has been increasing faster than any of the world's top 25 economic powerhouses.

The number of Hong Kong's high-net-worth individuals - those with more than $1 million in investable assets - grew at an average annual rate of 27 percent in the five years to 2013 to 124,000 - according to Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management's World Wealth Report 2014.

The huge demand for wealth-management services by the burgeoning ranks of high-net-worth individuals in Hong Kong has attracted many global private banks, such as the world's largest custodian bank BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, to stake their claims to a piece of the pie.

The newcomers include ACE Life, the global life insurance division of ACE Group, which launched its first wealth-management unit in the Asia Pacific region in Hong Kong's prime shopping center at Causeway Bay on Tuesday.

Having enjoyed a double digit growth of insurance business in the city last year, ACE Life dabbled into the wealth-management market segment by leveraging its know-how in life-insurance business and offering a wide spectrum of insurance-based solutions.

Allan Lam, country president of ACE Life in Hong Kong, said insurance is a major part of the wealth-management business.

The US-based insurer is investing big in Hong Kong, as the city is not only a fertile ground for millionaires but also a top offshore investment option in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to the latest survey by consulting firm Bain & Co, the SAR is the top choice of mainland moneyed elite investing outside the mainland and overseas.

Lam noted that the opening-up of the mainland's financial sector, including the Hong Kong-mainland mutual fund recognition program, is a blessing for the city's wealth managers.

Capitalizing on the accelerating wealth creation on the Chinese mainland and in Southeast Asia, ACE Life, with high hopes of strong growth in the city's wealth-management market, is eyeing Hong Kong as the region's premier wealth-management center.

sophia@chinadailyhk.com

According to the latest survey by consulting firm Bain & Co, the SAR is the top choice of affluent mainland investors putting their money outside the mainland and overseas. Asia News Photo

(HK Edition 06/17/2015 page11)