OCBC Hong Kong to lift wealth RM headcount by 30% as revenue heads for double-digit growth

[SINGAPORE] OCBC’s Hong Kong franchise will hire 30 to 50 wealth management relationship managers in 2026, raising headcount by at least 30 per cent as it ramps up its wealth business.

The hiring push comes as OCBC Hong Kong’s wealth management income rose 1.5 times from a year earlier in the first quarter ended Mar 31, 2026.

This was driven by growth in its customer base, with the number of premier banking customers in Hong Kong and Macau rising 22 per cent year on year, while offshore premier banking clients jumped 34 per cent.

Investment income climbed 60 per cent, while insurance income rose 38 per cent.

The lender will also open its first Premier Private Client Centre at its flagship branch in Hong Kong’s Central district, said Josephine Lee, head of consumer financial services at OCBC Hong Kong, on Friday (May 15).

The centre will serve clients with at least US$1 million in funds.

The wealth push comes as OCBC’s Hong Kong franchise delivered a “very strong” performance in the first four months of 2026, putting it on track for double-digit revenue growth this year, said Wang Ke, the bank’s head of Greater China.

“If I look at the full-year outlook – with the uncertainty still surrounding us in the external environment – I’m quite confident our top line (will) probably grow in the range of double digits,” said Wang, who is also CEO of OCBC Hong Kong.

“With that, I believe our profitability will (also) be much better compared to last year,” he added at a media briefing in Hong Kong, which was also streamed virtually.

SEE ALSO

OCBC’s Indonesia deal a ‘perfect fit’ for Asean wealth ambitions, says CEO, as Q1 profit beats estimates

For the first quarter, OCBC Hong Kong posted an 18 per cent increase in revenue to HK$2.2 billion (S$358.8 million). The figure includes contributions from Macau.

Operating profit rose 31 per cent in the quarter, while profit before tax surged 90 per cent. OCBC Hong Kong does not typically disclose individual non-revenue figures.

If the lender meets its full-year 2026 wealth management income target, it would have grown fees by five times since 2023, Wang noted.

As part of the bank’s broader wealth continuum push under new OCBC CEO Tan Teck Long’s “Next Frontier” strategy, the Hong Kong franchise will work closely with Bank of Singapore, OCBC’s private banking arm, to refer clients as their wealth grows and they meet new thresholds, Lee added.

Wang said that if the bank maintains its current momentum and continues to grow revenue at a double-digit pace year on year, it is also “most likely” to meet its medium-term aspiration of becoming a “top 10 bank in Hong Kong” by 2030.

The target, first announced in 2024, is measured on two fronts: scale, which refers to being among the top 10 by total assets or total income; and profitability, which refers to being among the top 10 by operating profit before provisions, or profit after tax.

OCBC Hong Kong is currently ranked around 13th or 14th, depending on the metric used, Wang noted.

“(The) bottom line is: we need to take over three of our competitors in order for us to get there,” he said.

The faster pace of projected revenue growth is also expected to lift profits. Wang stressed, however, that the lender is “not cutting costs”, but that “revenue is growing much faster than the growth rate of our cost base”.

Friday’s briefing came a week after OCBC posted a 5 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit at the group level to S$1.97 billion, exceeding the S$1.88 billion consensus estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

This came as group total income rose 5 per cent year on year to S$3.83 billion, driven by a 23 per cent jump in non-interest income.

Wang said Greater China accounted for 23 per cent of group operating profit in the first quarter, up from 21 per cent in the year-ago period.

On wealth flows from the Middle East, Wang said the Hong Kong franchise has fielded “some inquiries”, but has not seen “a lot of money coming over”.

Describing the implications of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East as medium-to-long term, he added: “I personally am quite certain it will benefit Hong Kong – even Singapore – as a safe haven, as a financial centre.”

Shares of OCBC were down 0.4 per cent, or S$0.08, at S$22.87 as at 2.22 pm on Friday.