HSBC to boost private banking by 20 percent

By David Dolan and Michiko Iwasaki

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese private banking arm of HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (0005.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) aims to boost its customer base by 20 percent or more and open at least two more offices as the bank, Europe's largest, strengthens its push to win wealthy Japanese.

HSBC Holdings Plc, which entered the private banking business in Japan 11 years ago, touts a "tailor-made" approach, where clients with assets of 300 million yen ($2.6 million) or more are paired up with a private banker.

"We'd like to see growth of 20 percent or more," Fumio Matsushima, head of private banking at HSBC in Japan, told the Reuters Wealth Summit on Wednesday.

"Growth of our customer base will be, of course, the first thing," he said. "How much our assets under management will increase from that is another factor."

To cast a wider net, HSBC would like to open at least two more private banking offices -- one in Osaka and one in Nagoya -- to supplement its current business in Tokyo, Matsushima said.

While the London-based bank has been doing business in Japan for about 140 years, it has largely been a niche player.

Recruitment remains a challenge for its private banking business, said Matsushima, who joined the bank in 2005 after more than 20 years with Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in Japan and the United States.

"As a business, private banking doesn't have a long history in Japan," he said. "One challenge we face is being able to gather top-notch bankers."  Continued...