Published by Asia Asset Management – 27 Jul 2018
Total assets in Hong Kong’s asset and wealth management industry reached HK$24.27 trillion (US$3.12 trillion) at the end of 2017 as a stronger global economy buoyed markets and helped to drive capital into the city, according to findings from an annual survey by the Hong Kong’s Securities & Futures Commission (SFC).
SFC, which has been conducting the survey since 1999, polled 572 registered asset management and advisory firms, financial institutions, and insurance companies earlier this year for the latest edition.
According to the regulator, overseas investors remain the major source of funding for the city’s asset and wealth management business, though their 66% share at the end of 2017 was down from 72% in 2013.
For the first time, the survey was extended to include assets from the respondents’ private banking and private wealth management business, and as such, the findings are not comparable to the 2016 figures, SFC says in a recent statement. Total assets in the 2016 poll was HK$18.2 trillion.
The 2017 survey found that private banking and private wealth management assets amounted to HK$7.8 trillion at the end of 2017, 52% of which was invested in China and Hong Kong.
Excluding private banking and wealth management accounts, assets of the respondents’ asset management and advisory business grew 23% year-on-year to HK$17.5 trillion as at December 31, 2017.
According to SFC, Hong Kong’s asset and wealth management business gained from strong markets worldwide and a net inflow of funds to the city from an upturn in the global economy.
“The survey findings illustrate the sustained growth of Hong Kong’s asset and wealth management industry,” SFC Chief Executive Officer Ashley Alder says in the July 21 statement. “This is fully in line with our determination to further develop Hong Kong as a full-service global asset management centre and a preferred place of fund domicile.”
The survey found that the number of locally domiciled SFC-authorised funds grew 7% year-on-year to 755 at the end of 2017, and their net asset value jumped 30% to HK$1.24 trillion.
