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Monday July 05, 08:44
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HSBC To Offer Hedge Funds Onshore
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HSBC Private Bank, which oversees $11 billion in hedge fund assets for its offshore high-net-worth clients, is preparing to bring its hedge fund and fund of funds advisory services to the domestic market. The move is part of an overall effort to bring all of its various domestic and international services under a consolidated platform, Gerard Aquilina, the head of the private bank, told PAM in a sit-down interview. Aquilina has instituted a team approach, bringing together specialists in areas such as tax advisory and derivatives, to client servicing that clearly lays out the breadth of services offered by the bank. HSBC, which has traditionally catered to clients with north of $50 million and had a focus on credit services, has created a family advisory unit and is now planning to add teams to focus on clients in the $1-10 million range.
Customized portfolios of single-manager hedge funds are an important investment offering utilized by advisers to the ultra-affluent and family offices, said Mary Duke, head of the newly created Family Wealth Advisory Services unit. She is focusing on bringing this advisory service to domestic clients and is currently working out legal and technical issues associated with coming onshore. As part of this, fund of hedge funds will also be available onshore though they will more likely be for affluent individuals that use the private banking services outside of the family group. "Domestically, the focus was on credit. We didn’t have enough...private equity, hedge funds, for ultra clients," said Aquilina. Family Wealth Advisory Services leverages existing investments and services to meet family needs. It has created new services as well, which can be used by private bankers outside of the group. For example, it has come out with an aggregated portfolio reporting service, HSBC WealthTrack, that provides monthly tracking of assets managed by HSBC and outside providers.
The firm has spent the last six months quietly consolidating its international and domestic private banking operations--creating the dedicated family advisory unit and expanding its domestic services in the process, noted Aquilina. In November, HSBC Bank USA consolidated its domestic and international private banks into one brand and named Aquilina, who had been ceo of international private banking in the Americas, to head it.
Separately, in January the global private bank rebranded so that all HSBC private banking units are now called HSBC Private Bank. In the coming months, Aquilina said he plans to add private bankers and investment advisors that will focus on clients in the $1-10 million range. He plans to build in areas where the bank has a strong presence, including New York, California and Florida. "We will leverage where we have a presence, where we can add more to the offering in addition to credit," he said, adding that the firm is not looking necessarily "to be all things to all people."
(Private Asset Management)
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