HSBC launches exclusive credit card for private banking clients

The invitation-only HSBC Privé is designed to provide wealthy customers with unparalleled travel, lifestyle, and exclusive access benefits, the bank said

HSBC has launched its first ultra-premium credit card exclusively for its Global Private Banking clients.

The invitation-only HSBC Privé is designed to provide wealthy customers with unparalleled travel, lifestyle, and exclusive access benefits, the bank said.

Following its debut in Hong Kong, the card, developed in collaboration with Mastercard, will be introduced in Singapore, India, and other key markets.

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Recent trends show that credit card spending by HNW and UHNW Mastercard holders in the Asia-Pacific region nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023. The most popular spending categories included hotel accommodations and dining, with significant increases of 87% and 78% in overseas transactions, respectively. Local dining also saw a 74% increase in transaction volume.

[See also: The new silk road: Middle East-Asia investment corridor ‘strengthening dramatically’, says HSBC global wealth chief]

Tailored benefits

A study conducted by HSBC Global Private Banking in early 2024 identified emerging market developments and future client preferences, leading to the creation of tailored benefits for Privé cardholders.

Privé cardholders can gain entry to private clubs, members-only lounges, and workspaces at over 150 locations worldwide, including Asia, Australia, Europe, and the US. Customers will also have access to premium airport lounges, limousine transfers, complimentary hotel stays, membership upgrades, and comprehensive travel insurance.

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Among the other benefits will be complimentary Michelin-star tasting menus for guests, green fees at select golf courses, and fast-tracked membership status at prestigious department stores in London and Paris.

[See also: The UK’s best private banks: the exclusive institutions UHNWs trust with their money]

Georges Elhedery, HSBC’s Group Chief Executive

East meets West: HSBC undergoes major revamp

The launch of the exclusive card comes days after the bank announced a sweeping overhaul under its new chief executive, Georges Elhedery, that would split the business geographically into East and West.

HSBC will divide its operations into four business lines: UK, Hong Kong, corporate and institutional banking, and wealth banking.

In September, HSBC announced it was growing its team of wealth advisers and relationship managers nationally in a bid to secure its place among the biggest UK wealth managers as part of ambitions by the bank to double its assets under management to £100 billion ($131 billion) by leveraging its global footprint.

Europe’s biggest bank is seeking to expand its UK wealth division to replicate the success of its Asian arm and is hoping to become one of Britain’s top five wealth managers by the end of the decade, it said.

HSBC’s CEO for Global Private Banking and Wealth, Annabel Spring recently told Spear’s the UK remained one of the bank’s two ‘home markets’ (alongside Hong Kong), its ‘regulatory home’ and ‘an area for considerable investment’.

Former CEO Noel Quinn unexpectedly announced he would be stepping down earlier this year after an ‘intense’ five years in charge. Elhedery, then group CFO, took the reins on 2 September.

On a global level, the investment in HSBC’s wealth division has allowed the private bank to open new operations onshore in six Chinese cities, the UAE, Mexico, India and Thailand over the last ‘three or four years’.

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