Over 80% of offshore investors plan to increase investments under World Bank

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Over 80% of offshore investors plan to increase investments under World Bank

Hong Kong was ranked fourth on the ease of doing business in the World Bank annual report, according to the HKSAR government. ANTHONY WALLACE AFP Over 80 percent of respondents who have invested in the Wealth Management Connect program plan to increase their investments in the next year despite market uncertainties, a survey released on Wednesday said.

In August, HSBC surveyed online 2,000 investors whose liquid assets are worth at least 1 million yuan, patacas or Hong Kong dollars — using the currency of their respective residences across the 11 cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

75 percent of the offshore investors, including those in Hong Kong, and 85 percent of Chinese-mainland investors, plan to put more assets under management in the next 12 months, with a large portion eyeing an increase of 5 to 10 percent of total assets.

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The Wealth Management Connect program, which was launched last year, allows cross-border investments between nine mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

The survey also shows that investors tend to make long term investments under the link. Almost two-thirds of respondents are considering holding investments for six to 12 months, while 56 percent of respondents are trading via the northbound channel plan for the medium-term investment.

61 percent of southbound investors expect a 7 to 9 percent yield annually and 45 percent of northbound investors believe that their investments will meet their expected returns in the following year.

Most investors have managed to make at least a 4 percent return on their investments despite the volatile market.

Despite the challenging market environment, investors in the region show confidence and growing interest in the cross-border Wealth Management Connect program despite the challenging market environment, according to Daniel Chan, head of the Greater Bay Area at HSBC.

He said that greater economic connectivity will drive growing cross-border investment demand.

The survey also shows that energy, natural resources, technology, biotechnology, and healthcare are the five sectors that respondents are interested in investing in.

About 90 percent of southbound respondents and 72 percent of northbound respondents expressed interest in investing in products that recognize environmental, social and governance ESG principles.

HSBC is one of the first batches of Hong Kong banks qualified to provide financial services under the Wealth Management Connect program.