Citi to Support Client-Led Wealth Growth in Hong Kong

Hong Kong – To support client growth, Citi will add more than 1,000 professionals across its wealth franchise in Hong Kong, including over 550 new Relationship Managers (RMs) and Private Bankers (PBs) over the next five years. To date in 2021, the bank has hired 75 PBs and RMs to its wealth business in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a key market for Citi's regional wealth ambition to grow regional client AUMs by US$150 billion by 2025 from the current level of US$310 billion and add over 1,100 RMs and PBs across the region. Hong Kong is also at the heart of Citi's global wealth strategy, where the bank announced recently at first quarter earnings that it is doubling down on wealth with a focus on four wealth centers across Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE and London.

"We are well-positioned to capture the strong growth opportunity by supporting our growing client base especially in light of Wealth Connect and the Greater Bay Area opportunity. This includes both traditional retail wealth but also growing entrepreneurial wealth where we can connect founders and their companies to our leading institutional franchise across areas including commercial banking, capital markets and corporate banking. Hong Kong will play a leading role in Citi's ambitions to grow our global wealth business via Citi Global Wealth," said Angel Ng, Citi Hong Kong and Macau CEO.

In January, Citi announced the formation of Citi Global Wealth (CGW), aligning the Private Bank and the Consumer Wealth business under the leadership of Jim O'Donnell, formerly Global Head of Investor Sales and Relationship Management.

Leveraging Citi's aspirational wealth management brand, CGW's strategy is focused on delivering the firm's global network, high quality research and leading capital markets expertise. In Asia Pacific and EMEA, Citi has appointed regional Private Bank Head Steven Lo and former Asia Pacific Retail Head Fabio Fontainha to lead Citi Global Wealth in Asia.

Citi Hong Kong continues to serves it clients across the full suite of Consumer Banking products, led by Hong Kong Head of Consumer Banking Lawrence Lam.

With its market leadership in wealth management in Hong Kong, Citi has well-defined value propositions for each wealth segment from affluent to Ultra High Net Worth covering the entire rapidly-increasing affluent population offering wealth management solutions that work in tandem with clients' wealth stages and financial needs.

Citibank's Wharton-trained senior bankers and advisory professionals, who include ex-fund managers and analysts, deliver a high degree of engagement and customization in their advice and solutions to clients who are becoming increasingly conscious of the importance of having their wealth managed by seasoned professionals to help them grow and preserve wealth.

In 2020 Citibank in the region recorded over US$20 billion in net new money inflows marking a record year for the bank and the bank currently has US$310 billion in AUM putting the bank among the top three wealth managers in Asia Pacific. In the first quarter of 2021, Citi added over US$5 billion in net new money.

Wealth creation—from emerging affluent to HNW, Asia is the world's fastest growing wealth market, household assets approximately $140 trillion nearly 40% of the global total. Asia accounts for 90% of the middle class projected to emerge during the coming decade. According to latest Citibank's annual Hong Kong Affluent Study, the number of multimillionaires recorded 25% year on year growth in 2020.

Notes to editors
The bank has in place a clear segment-led strategy for Wealth Management with growth targeted across the bank's wealth franchise. This includes Citi Plus serving the emerging affluent (below US$200k), Citigold serving the affluent segment (US$200k-US$1mm), Citigold Private Client serving core HNW (US$1m-10m), a partnership between the Private Bank and the retail bank serving Upper HNW (US$10m-25m) and ultra HNW via the Private Bank.

Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

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Media Enquiries
James Griffiths
Citi Corporate Affairs, Asia Pacific
852-2868-7668
james.a.griffiths@citi.com