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South China Morning Post
13-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Quake fears drive some Hong Kong tourists away from Asian cities: industry leader
Concerns over earthquakes have contributed to a decline in the number of Hong Kong residents joining tour groups to some popular Asian destinations this Easter, despite prices falling by as much as 15 per cent over last year's level, one of the city's largest travel agents has said. Advertisement Steve Huen Kwok-chuen, executive director of EGL Tours, also told a radio programme on Sunday that tour group prices were falling due to the stronger Hong Kong dollar and cheaper flights as the cost of jet fuel fell and airline passenger capacity increased. 'For a six-day trip to Japan, prices range from about HK$10,000 [US$1,290] to HK$13,000 this year, down from HK$10,000 to HK$16,000 last year, which is quite a marked decline,' he said. When asked about the effects of recent earthquakes on tour group bookings, Huen said: 'If we compare Easter this year with last year, there is a slight single percentage point contraction, which may be due to factors that are uncertain to everyone. 'Everyone will think about [the quakes], but the impact is not too big.' Advertisement A 5.6-magnitude quake struck near Meiktila, a small city in central Myanmar, on Sunday morning, although there were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties. On March 28, the country was rocked by a 7.7-magnitude quake that killed more than 3,500 people and was felt as far away as Bangkok, where a skyscraper under construction near the popular Chatuchak Weekend Market collapsed.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Standard Chartered to open sixth Hong Kong wealth centre, increase headcount: Mary Huen
Standard Chartered, one of Hong Kong's three note-issuing banks, will continue to hire additional private bankers and open more new wealth management centres in the city as part of its ambition to garner US$200 billion of new money from affluent clients over the next five years, according to a top executive. "Affluent wealth management and cross-border businesses have been, and continue to be, our twin growth engines in Hong Kong," Mary Huen Wai-yi, CEO of Hong Kong, Greater China and North Asia, said in a media briefing last week. Standard Chartered this year will open its sixth cross-border wealth management centre in the city, she said. The bank currently operates five such facilities to serve high-net-worth clients, including in the tourist hotspot of Tsim Sha Tsui. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. "We have found that high-net-worth and affluent clients respond positively to these cross-border wealth management centres," she said. "We have already set up such centres in Taiwan and Shanghai in recent years [and] we are considering similar centres in Greater Bay Area cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou." The bank would continue to hire more wealth experts, she added, noting that it had already hired some 100 relationship managers in Hong Kong last year to serve high-net-worth customers. The recruitments were part of the lender's US$1.5 billion investment in the wealth-management business over the next five years, with Hong Kong set to be the focus of the expansion, group CEO Bill Winters said in a media briefing on February 21 to announce the full-year results. Standard Chartered hired some 100 relationship managers in Hong Kong last year. Photo: Jonathan Wong alt=Standard Chartered hired some 100 relationship managers in Hong Kong last year. Photo: Jonathan Wong> A robust growth in services for affluent clients drove Standard Chartered's profit up by 19 per cent in 2024, prompting Winters to set an ambitious goal of garnering US$200 billion of net new money in the next five years. Hong Kong figures prominently in the bank's growth plan. Underlying pre-tax profit in the city last year jumped by 24 per cent to a record US$2.3 billion, representing 34 per cent of the total, making Hong Kong the bank's biggest market. This was driven by a 9 per cent growth in the number of affluent clients in 2024, with net new money from these clients jumping 64 per cent, Huen said. Another growth engine Standard Chartered is banking on in Hong Kong is the cross-border corporate banking business. "We have seen an increasing number of corporate clients in Hong Kong and mainland China keen on expanding in Asean and the Middle East where Standard Chartered has a strong network," Huen said. "The companies want to establish a manufacturing base in Asean and sell some of their products in the Middle East." She said the bank was fast adding clients from the new economy sector, mainly companies operating in solar energy, electric vehicles, biotech and healthcare. On Friday, Standard Chartered was added to a group of 24 lenders, which would receive half of the funds from a 100 billion yuan (US$13.8 billion) trade-financing facility launched by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Under the scheme, banks can get funding from the facility at a cost based on the onshore yuan interest rate plus a premium to support trade settlement for their customers, who can arrange funding for one, three and six-month periods. Huen said the trade finance facility would promote Hong Kong's yuan business, while the improved market sentiment would also encourage clients to seek loans to fund expansion. "Overall, [we are] cautiously optimistic about our growth in Hong Kong this year, as our clients have been more active in making investment decisions amid a lower interest-rate environment since September," she said. "With expectations of two more rate cuts between a quarter to half a percentage point this year, it would lead to more loan demand." This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
