How HSBC Jade helps clients become better investors

(From left to right) Brian Hui, Head of Customer Proposition and Marketing, Wealth and Personal Banking, Hong Kong, HSBC and Sami Abouzahr, Head of Customer Wealth, Wealth and Personal Banking, Hong Kong, HSBC

The past few months of extreme market turbulence reminds us once again that investing well is no easy matter. As the economic situation continues to evolve, it’s hard enough to keep track of what is happening, let alone envision how these changes could impact one’s investment portfolio and respond in a timely and appropriate way.

In its award-winning platform Wealth Portfolio Intelligence Service (WPIS), HSBC Jade employs institutional-level technology from its partner Blackrock Aladdin precisely to help customers cope with the challenges of making wise investment moves so that they can achieve long-term returns while charting a smoother course in the short term.

For starters, in a feature offered solely to HSBC Jade clients, HSBC WPIS analyses a client’s specific portfolio covering a wide range of assets, whether it’s equities, bonds, funds, structure products, foreign exchange or cash.

By breaking a portfolio down into different components, HSBC WPIS can show what the risk exposures are in terms of geography, currency and other key metrics. This, in turn, can reveal whether a portfolio is adequately diversified, or overly concentrated in certain areas, its volatility and downside risk. Through a better understanding of the client’s portfolio, the HSBC Jade Director (the relationship manager assigned to each HSBC Jade client) can then provide the client with constructive advice derived from our global and institutional insights, and help the client construct a portfolio that balances risk and returns.

With this technology at hand, HSBC Jade clients can see how a given portfolio is likely to behave if markets move up or down, or are affected by different scenarios, such as a market drop or central bank rate decisions, and even topical events like a global pandemic.

 

Sami Abouzahr, Head of Customer Wealth, Wealth and Personal Banking, Hong Kong, HSBC

“We are able to help customer understand what may happen to a portfolio in different scenarios, and that really brings it to life for our customers,” says Sami Abouzahr, Head of Customer Wealth, Wealth and Personal Banking, Hong Kong, HSBC.

Analysing the current portfolio situation of a client is crucial, but it’s equally important for each HSBC Jade Director to know more about, and truly understand their clients in order to help make well-informed investment decisions.

 

HSBC Jade clients can meet their dedicated HSBC Jade Directors in an exclusive and private environment and enjoy all-round banking services at the new HSBC Jade Centre at Festival Walk

When a client visits a HSBC Jade Centre for the first time, they will be greeted by their Jade Director. In this initial meeting, the HSBC Jade Director will undertake an in-depth financial profile in order to understand and factor in all relevant information for the profile. In addition to the client’s portfolio details, this information usually includes the client’s financial objectives, risk tolerance level and family condition, among others. This meeting typically takes 45 minutes to an hour.

The HSBC Jade Director then consolidates all these information, with the backing of a team of wealth planners and specialists, to recommend an optimal way of building or rebalancing a portfolio accordingly.

To find out that optimal asset mix, HSBC WPIS looks at how different securities and asset classes behave over time and finds ways of combining them to likely maximise the long-term expected return for the level of risk that the client is willing and able to take. This aims to reduce unnecessary exposure to volatility, which should mean experiencing fewer losses during difficult market environment.

Wealth is, of course, a very personal thing. But the truth is, the more information customers are willing to share, the more value they can get in return from the HSBC Jade Directors. Indeed, “clients are very receptive to sharing their portfolio details as long as they understand the value we provide to them, as the more information they share, the better we can help them to analyse and optimise their portfolio,” says Abouzahr.

“And then if the client implements those recommendations, or even if they decide not to, they'll receive insights on what's happening in the market on an ongoing basis.” Says Abouzahr, explaining how the HSBC Jade service regards assisting customers to invest as a continual process.

It can be quite annoying if one calls the relationship manager only to find out they are not available when needed. Hui assured that this is the last thing HSBC Jade clients have to worry about.

“Based on an internal survey, our accessibility is often ranked the highest in the industry,” says Brain Hui, Head of Customer Proposition and Marketing, Wealth and Personal Banking, Hong Kong, HSBC.

 

Brian Hui, Head of Customer Proposition and Marketing, Wealth and Personal Banking, Hong Kong, HSBC

HSBC Jade clients can always reach out to their respective HSBC Jade Directors through the phone, or visit a HSBC Jade Centre anytime they like. These HSBC Jade Centres are located at prime locations, allowing for convenient access.

In addition, online video conferencing and a dedicated service hotline are also provided to ensure customers a great omni-channel experience, and their needs can be attended to immediately.

“HSBC Jade Directors all have specific accreditation to deliver the service and many of them have external qualifications as well. We organise frequent training symposiums and seminars internationally with other relationship managers from overseas to ensure there are lots of best-practice sharing,” says Hui.

In fact, “HSBC Jade Directors’ regular review sessions with their clients and the provision of real-time advice over the latest situation have been highly appreciated according to customer feedback,” says Hui, particularly in an environment with lots of ups and downs.

The path to profit is often littered with pitfalls. Abouzahr suggests a few core principles for investors to keep in mind.

“One is diversification. Another is discipline – in terms of putting a plan in place that is aligned to your risk tolerance, and sticking to it.” Says Abouzahr.

“Staying in the market and investing regularly is a good way to smooth out the impacts of a volatile market over the longer term.”

While these are things many people have heard and maybe even understood, executing on it and staying the course is often much harder than initially anticipated.

“By equipping clients with a top-notch investment platform and highly trained Jade Directors, the HSBC Jade service aims to provide clients with the insights and ideas to help them better manage their portfolios.” Says Abouzahr.

“This is a combination of technology and professional expertise offered by HSBC Jade to assist clients to make better-informed investment decisions, especially at times of market uncertainty.” Hui added.

Often, the process of knowing the client is as much about getting the clients to know themselves. People may think they know what they want, and the kind of risk they are able to accept, but they may not realise their actual investing behaviour and risk appetite. Equally indispensable is the human and personal element that HSBC Jade Directors bring to the table. By helping them visualise the possible consequences under different scenarios, customers gain a renewed understanding of themselves, which is key to becoming a better investor.