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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. As we make our

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Speaker 1: way into a fresh trading and business week. We're here,

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Speaker 1: of course, at the first HSBC Global Investment sum and

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Speaker 1: it begins today. It's for three days, of course, of

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Speaker 1: a thousand more than a thousand people gathering here. We'll

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Speaker 1: talk more really of what's in store and what the

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Speaker 1: plans are these next few days or so. In the meantime, though,

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Speaker 1: let's have a conversation with someone I think who works.

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Speaker 2: At the bank.

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Speaker 1: Nol QUINNBC CEO is here with us on set to

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Speaker 1: discuss its Good morning, and thank you for having us here.

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Speaker 2: By the way, thank you.

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Speaker 1: So we were supposed to start this interview about ten

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Speaker 1: to fifteen minutes earlier, but I understand we had competition

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Speaker 1: with John Lee, the Hong Kong Chief Executive, wanted some

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Speaker 1: minutes of your time indulge us. What did you guys

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Speaker 1: talk about.

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Speaker 3: It's a really good conversation with John, and he really

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Speaker 3: reinforced this commitment so continuing to develop the economy of

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Speaker 3: Hong Kong very much focused on how we build new

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Speaker 3: momentum into the economy, and that's what this conference is

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Speaker 3: all about. The Global Investment it's really all about connecting

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Speaker 3: the economies of the world. And we've got over three thousand,

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Speaker 3: five hundred dedicates here this week, over oney one hundred

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Speaker 3: financial institutions from around the world, over forty countries represented,

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Speaker 3: and we got over two hundred and fifty corporates presenting

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Speaker 3: to those financial institutions. In total, I think there's going

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Speaker 3: to be around about five thousand blateral meetings taking place

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Speaker 3: between institutions and corporates. And the whole purpose of this

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Speaker 3: is to talk about the development of the world economy,

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Speaker 3: particularly here in Asia and particularly Hong Kong. And that

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Speaker 3: was the conversation that we had with John before the summit.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he did mention that, you know, developing the wealth

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Speaker 1: management sector does remain a policy priority, which of course

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Speaker 1: it's a very very big, big business for you guys

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Speaker 1: as well. I just want to get a sense really

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Speaker 1: of there have been some polarizing.

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Speaker 2: Comments around Hong Kong.

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Speaker 1: Not to get into the politics, of course, for one,

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Speaker 1: Stephen Roachi, of course, of Yale, Morgan Stanley, next Marquess

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Speaker 1: Hong Kong is over. That's one extreme real in the

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Speaker 1: back has a different position now to see that nothing

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Speaker 1: has changed in Hong Kong would be at the service.

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Speaker 1: How do you think things have changed and what do

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Speaker 1: you think people had to keep in mind as you

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Speaker 1: do business here.

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Speaker 2: Let me just give you some facts.

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Speaker 3: If you look at what we did in twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: three the performance of our wealth and personal banking business

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Speaker 3: here in Hong Kong, we saw significant customer acquisition growth.

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Speaker 3: We also saw a round about a fifty percent growth

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Speaker 3: in our insurance and wealth business in terms of the

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Speaker 3: new business they were writing last year. So the facts

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Speaker 3: are wealth management is continuing to develop and grow here

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Speaker 3: in Hong Kong. The liquidity base here in Hong Kong

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Speaker 3: today is higher than pre COVID levels, So I still

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Speaker 3: see Hong Kong as a vibrant financial center. Capital markets

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Speaker 3: are subdued at the moment, but that's a function of

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Speaker 3: still coming out of COVID economies waiting to recover what

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Speaker 3: will inflation and interest rates do. But we see in

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Speaker 3: some early signs of the deck capital markets starting to

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Speaker 3: pick up as well. Facts I think support the fact

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Speaker 3: that Hong Kong still is a vibrant financial market.

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Speaker 1: Right now, I know you're set to report your first

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Speaker 1: quarter earnings in a couple of weeks, so you can't

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Speaker 1: get into the details as well, but we just wrapped up,

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Speaker 1: of course the calendar quarter. Yeah, if you could also

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Speaker 1: indulge us, how do you think the quarter went for

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Speaker 1: you guys gently week?

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Speaker 2: Well, twenty twenty three went extremely well.

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Speaker 3: Over thirty billion dollars a profit record, a record profit,

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Speaker 3: and that's a culmination of the hard work of our

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Speaker 3: colleagues over the past four and a half years and

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Speaker 3: also the loyalty of our customers. They've been very supportive

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Speaker 3: of HSBC as we went through COVID and transition. Our

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Speaker 3: return our returns were the best for over ten years,

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Speaker 3: and our dividend that sixty one cents was the best

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Speaker 3: dividend for fifteen years. So I was really pleased with

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Speaker 3: the performance. We never can place it. We're making sure

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Speaker 3: that we're well positioned for the future and we're continuing

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Speaker 3: to invest in the business. We're investing in wealth management

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Speaker 3: here in Asia. We've done a number of acquisitions to

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Speaker 3: do that. The most recent one that we announced was

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Speaker 3: the acquisition of the City Bank wealth management business in

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Speaker 3: mainland China. We bought an insurance business off Axa in Singapore,

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Speaker 3: and we born us in management business in India, and

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Speaker 3: again just to put it into context, every region performed

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Speaker 3: well last year and every business line in India we

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Speaker 3: made over one and a half billion dollars profit. If

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Speaker 3: you put BOCOM and our own shareholding of our own

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Speaker 3: bank in China we made over three and a half

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Speaker 3: billion dollar profit, so well distributed profit across the world,

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Speaker 3: and all parts of the bank doing extremely well.

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Speaker 1: I'm surfficed to say it's thirty billion the minimum target

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Speaker 1: this year because it was such a good year lasted.

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Speaker 1: Do you think you'll surpass it this year?

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Speaker 3: Well, nice, try, David, but I can't give properly forecasts

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Speaker 3: at this stage.

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Speaker 2: Well in the close period.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let me take some of the guy that you

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Speaker 1: guys mentioned in the previous financial statement, which was you're

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Speaker 1: looking to at least make forty one billion in that

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Speaker 1: interest income this year so far. That was in the

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Speaker 1: assumption of rates two three months back. It doesn't seem

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Speaker 1: rates are going to come down though substantially, and wondering

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Speaker 1: whether the forty one is a conservative figure.

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Speaker 3: We listen, we will update our view as we go

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Speaker 3: through each quarter, but we hold that guidance set up

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Speaker 3: of at least forty one billion I think if you

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Speaker 3: look at consensus at the moment, it's probably got US

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Speaker 3: in or around forty two billion. But we will not

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Speaker 3: update our guidance until we do Q one results.

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Speaker 1: Q one results are coming out. I think people are

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Speaker 1: expecting a special dividend from the DEA investment of course

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Speaker 1: in Canada as well. Yeah, the shareholders you'll need to

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Speaker 1: vote on that. Is that a done deal? Is that

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Speaker 1: money in the park as a shareholders at this morning time.

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Speaker 3: No, the board have to make a decision with the

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Speaker 3: Q one results on that dividend. It's our intention that

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Speaker 3: when we look at Q one results and we close

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Speaker 3: on that quarter, it would be our intention if the

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Speaker 3: board feel comfortable to then pay that special dividend of

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Speaker 3: twenty one cents. And that twenty one CeNSE is very deliberate.

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Speaker 3: That's a very important catch up on the dividend that

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Speaker 3: we canceled many many a few years ago during COVID,

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Speaker 3: and I want to actually reward the loyalty of our

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Speaker 3: customers in shareholders and remember many of our shareholders our

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Speaker 3: retail customers, our retail customers here in Hong Kong, and

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Speaker 3: therefore we want to pay that special dividiles.

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Speaker 1: I remember that. I remember that meeting a few years back.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of divestments. We've done some reporting on your plans

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Speaker 1: around your assets in Germany. I was wondering if you

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Speaker 1: could comment on what your plans are for the staff.

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Speaker 3: We remain absolutely committed to being an international wholesale bank

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Speaker 3: across all of Europe, including in Germany, so there's no

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Speaker 3: change to that.

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Speaker 1: So there's an not for sale.

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Speaker 2: Those are offical.

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Speaker 3: We have some business lines in Germany that are non

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Speaker 3: essential to international wholesale banking and we're considering options for those,

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Speaker 3: and that's what the rumor and the speculation was, but

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Speaker 3: that is not about our international wholesale banking proposition or

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Speaker 3: a corporate banking proposition in Germany.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for clarifying assets in Russia. I know the

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Speaker 1: bank has also been looking at that. If you could

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Speaker 1: give us an update on whether those are actually up

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Speaker 1: for sale and when you want those, well, we have

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Speaker 1: a price.

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Speaker 3: Tag, we have regulatory approval to sell that business. We're

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Speaker 3: going through the final stages of trying to close that transaction,

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Speaker 3: but it is our intention to sell the business. We

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Speaker 3: have regulatory approval on it and we're in the close

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Speaker 3: We're in the process of trying to close that transaction.

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Speaker 1: Okay, since we're here, I want to ask you about China,

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Speaker 1: and you mentioned China already. I know you've done. The

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Speaker 1: most recent transaction was the city's wealth manager business that's

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Speaker 1: been fully folding into the business.

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Speaker 3: At this point in time, we have yet closed. We're

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Speaker 3: closing shortly, so we've agreed to sale. We're going through

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Speaker 3: regulatory approval and that transaction will close. But let me

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Speaker 3: bring you back to our business in China. Last year,

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Speaker 3: HSBC China made over a billion dollars a profit and

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Speaker 3: it grew its profit by nine percent last year. So

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Speaker 3: last year, some commentations would say it was a challenging

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Speaker 3: year for China, but we still managed to grow our

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Speaker 3: business and we're very One of the jobs that we

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Speaker 3: always do and have done for nearly one hundred and

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Speaker 3: sixty years, it's connecting the world. Our role as a bank,

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Speaker 3: as an international and global bank, is to connect the

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Speaker 3: economies of the world. Those economies are changing, the patterns

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Speaker 3: of trade are changing, the patterns of investment are changing.

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Speaker 3: But we firmly believe that it is not deglobalization, it

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Speaker 3: is reglobalization, and the patterns of trade are changing and

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Speaker 3: will help our clients and will help the economies of

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Speaker 3: the world connect in the new form right.

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Speaker 1: And you know, people talk about de risking, for example,

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Speaker 1: between the two global economic superpowers. You see the data,

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Speaker 1: because you're a global trade back, you see these flows

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Speaker 1: and you back these transactions. Are you seeing any science

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Speaker 1: of decoupling actually between the two countries.

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Speaker 2: No, But trade patterns are changing.

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Speaker 3: I think one of the lessons of COVID was supply

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Speaker 3: chain concentration cause resilience issues. It's not just geopolitics that

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Speaker 3: are changing trade patterns, it's also domestic economies are changing.

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Speaker 3: The trade route between the Middle Eastern Asia is much

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Speaker 3: more vibrant today than it would have been ten years ago.

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Speaker 3: Saudi Arabia presents huge opportunities for Asia, for Asia corporates

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Speaker 3: to trade with Saudi Arabia. So too the UAU very

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Speaker 3: dynamic economy growing strongly. More and more dialogue is happening

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Speaker 3: between the Middle East and Asia than what have been

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Speaker 3: happening in ten years ago.

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Speaker 2: That's the nature of trade.

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Speaker 3: It changes, and we're here to connect the new trading

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Speaker 3: patterns going forward.

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Speaker 1: It certainly become a very dominant part of the conversation

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Speaker 1: these links between the Middle East. The final question for you, No,

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Speaker 1: I know you're busy today. You mentioned built on acquisitions

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Speaker 1: in China, for example, So given your footprint right now

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Speaker 1: city business, what else are you looking to complement in

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Speaker 1: China a longer term strategy? What do you want in

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Speaker 1: the bank's presence to look like in mainland China, we.

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Speaker 2: Really want to grow out.

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Speaker 3: We've got a really strong wealth management business here in

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Speaker 3: Hong Kong. I want an equally strong wealth management capability

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Speaker 3: in mainland China, in Singapore for us here and in India.

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Speaker 2: And what I really want.

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Speaker 3: Is a platform of four strong pillars of wealth management.

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Speaker 3: And in wealth management I include insurance, as in management,

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Speaker 3: private banking. And therefore our acquisitions are being tended to

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Speaker 3: be acquiring product or distribution capability in those markets.

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Speaker 2: And that's what we've been doing.

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Speaker 1: And do we expect any transactions to be announced this year?

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Speaker 1: It sounds like you guys, we.

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Speaker 2: Will only announced when we're ready. We do not pre announce.

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Speaker 1: Okay, when you look at China, just to judges it

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Speaker 1: very very quickly, your expectations and the economy, your recovery

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Speaker 1: has been slow. Do things get better? Materially this year.

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Speaker 3: Well, listen, a five point two percent GDP growth last

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Speaker 3: year is not a bad performance. That's a good performance

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Speaker 3: in the first year after recovery. China economy is going

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Speaker 3: through transition, but I am confident they'll do their around

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Speaker 3: five percent GDP growth this year. And I think we

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Speaker 3: have to realize and focus very much on the medium

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Speaker 3: and long term opportunity in China. The urbanization that's taken

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Speaker 3: place over the past two to three decades in China

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Speaker 3: is a strong growth driver of going forward for the

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Speaker 3: next ten to twenty years. And that's why we're still

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Speaker 3: investing in China because we see that long term potential

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Speaker 3: transition is taking place. Now is the time to invest,

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Speaker 3: in my view, in China to be part of that

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Speaker 3: transition and the future growth