HSBC has recently acquired AXA Singapore. What does this mean for the business?

HLY: This has allowed us to materially scale up and diversify our insurance and wealth business in Singapore, and significantly boost our ability, as an Asia-centric bank, to serve the protection needs of people. For example, we’ve widened our distribution reach. In the past, we were focused on bancassurance and brokerage services for affluent to high-net-worth individuals. With the acquisition, we’ve acquired over 800 financial advisors and, through them, gained access to more mass to mass affluent customers.

It’s important to note that this segment of existing customers won’t remain static. They may begin with just basic insurance products and retailing banking services, but as they grow their wealth and maybe start their own businesses, they will require private and corporate banking services. We will, of course, accompany them on their wealth journeys.

What are some key trends that you think will affect the business in the coming decade?

HLY: What’s very interesting is that over the next 10 years, a projected US$1.9 trillion worth of intergenerational wealth transfer will take place in Asia. We see a huge opportunity in this area, beginning with our role in starting the conversation. As Asians, we often find it difficult to discuss this with our families, after all, so education is a key consideration for us here. From there, it’s about providing the right products and services, such as universal life insurance and trust services, to preserve our customers’ wealth and pass it on to the next generation. Finally, we also want to help our clients sustain this wealth across multiple generations through planning and the right products, as well as maintaining each generation’s relationship with HSBC.

I think how we conduct our business will also be very different. Like how banking services have evolved over the last decade, insurance services will also become a lot less transactional. Instead, engagement will be crucial to the business, and it will be done via various channels—face-to-face meetings will remain essential as the human experience is important to understanding people’s needs, but multiple touchpoints will allow us to interact with our customers more regularly.

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What are HSBC’s views on the topic of sustainability?

HLY: The most common “definition” of sustainability with regard to ESG [Environmental, Social and Governance] is something we believe in, of course, and we support this in various ways, such as how we evaluate the businesses that we choose to invest in. Beyond this fairly narrow view, however, we also see sustainability in health and wealth as important considerations. We believe that we have an important part to play in helping individuals take care of their mind, body and financials, and sustaining their overall well-being.

When it comes to health, we don’t want to be the people to approach only when something has gone wrong, and insurance claims need to be made. Instead, we want to be a part of our customers’ wellness journey right from the beginning. I think this is especially important because Singaporeans are living longer, but don’t necessarily have a good quality of life in their final years. To that end, we are launching a programme very soon. Do you have enough physical activity? Are you getting adequate rest? What’s your nutrition like? These are some areas we want to encourage our customers to pay attention to for their physical and mental wellness. This also ties back to my earlier point about engaging more closely with our customers.

Sustainability in wealth, on the other hand, is about being able to maintain your lifestyle on a financial level—independently. I think having retirement planning gaps and needing to rely on your children to provide for you isn’t sustainable, especially with Singapore’s rising dependency ratio, so this is also something to address through insurance. Sustaining a family’s wealth across generations like I shared earlier is also a part of this.

Of course, these issues are all related—you can’t have good financial planning but poor health, and expect a good quality of life. What is important for us is being able to accompany our clients on every step of the way.

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