As HSBC cuts private bankers in London, an MD in Asia walked away
It's a tense moment to be a private banker at HSBC in London. The FT reported today that close to 70% of financial advisers in the bank's UK wealth business could be cut by the end of the month as part of the bank's ongoing AI transformation. At the same time, one of the bank's most senior private bankers in Asia has separately departed.
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Catherine Claire Lim, an MD and desk head for China and Hong Kong, departed the bank last week according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) register. She announced via LinkedIn that she is joining Singaporean bank DBS as its market head for North Asia.
Lim spent the last four years at HSBC. Before that, she worked in the private banking arms of several top banks in Asia. She was a director at Citi and Standard Chartered, and an executive director at UBS. She began her career in banking as an executive assistant in the consumer finance division of Singaporean bank OCBC before becoming a relationship manager.
HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery said in a July report that the bank is "empowering relationship managers with AI" to personalize experiences for customers. It's hiring "at least 100 AI specialists" in a new Singapore AI centre of excellence to facilitate this. However, headhunters told us last year relationship managers aren't being replaced in Asia because "the higher echelon clients still have an appreciation for private bankers." HSBC itself has made several senior hires in Asia this year, including new desk heads for global India, offshore China and Singapore.
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