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OCBC, Ping An team up for GBA investment services
Cross-boundary investment scheme seen as a test for relaxation of China’s tight capital controls
The Asset 19 Oct 2021

OCBC Bank has announced that its wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary, OCBC Wing Hang Bank, is partnering with Ping An Bank on China’s Wealth Management Connect (WMC) scheme and has launched two-way services connected to this.

Last month, Chinese and Hong Kong regulators had announced the roll-out of the cross-boundary scheme that allows a two-way purchase of approved wealth management products across China’s Greater Bay (GBA) area, a cluster of 11 high-growth cities in southern China that includes Hong Kong and Macau and is the 12th largest economic entity in the world.

Under the new scheme, residents in the nine mainland China cities in the GBA, such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, can purchase wealth management products offered by providers in Hong Kong and Macau (southbound scheme); while those in Hong Kong and Macau will also be able to buy products by providers based in the mainland China cities (northbound scheme).

The tie-up between OCBC Wing Hang and Ping An Bank will see both banks provide quality and diversified financial services to their GBA customers. Eligible Ping An customers can open investment accounts with OCBC Wing Hang and purchase qualified wealth management products covering the global, Asia-Pacific, mainland China and US markets. Eligible OCBC Wing Hang customers can do the same with Ping An Bank to purchase qualified wealth management products from mainland China.

“The Wealth Management Connect scheme will be a game-changer and opens up a whole new segment of customers for us,” says Helen Wong, OCBC Bank’s group chief executive officer. “Our partnership with Ping An Bank, combined with our strong wealth management capabilities regionally, as well as our significant branch presence in the GBA, enables us to offer China customers a wealth of diversified investment opportunities through our twin hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong.”

The Wealth Management Connect scheme will facilitate up to 300 billion yuan (US$46.65 billion) in total investment flows and generate about 3.2 billion yuan in annual wealth fees for banks. It is seen as a test-bed for the gradual relaxation of China’s tight capital controls and could eventually be extended to the whole of China.

Ping An Bank is one of the top banks in China with a wide network of more than 300 branches in the GBA and over 107 million retail customers.

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