In-scope revenue reached $159bn in FY24, 10% above FY23. Net interest income remained weak, but investment management revenue jumped, driven primarily by discretionary fees. As expected, transactional fees suffered a seasonal slowdown, but still gained almost 20% on full-year basis. Regionally, EMEA and APAC outperformed, particularly in the $10m+ client segment.
Following several difficult years, APAC’s wealth hubs are recovering, and fast. Hong Kong’s regulators recently disclosed that private banks and wealth managers registered net inflows of $50bn in 2023, almost triple the 2022 total, with strong growth also recorded in 2024. Also, Hong Kong’s new CIES scheme – targeted at minimum investments of HK$30m/$38m in ‘net permissible investment assets’ – received more than 300 applications in the first six months, leading the regulators to project $12bn+ of net inflows from this scheme alone. Hong Kong is also widening its lead in GFOs: already home to c.2,800 GFOs, it received almost 200 new applications in 2024, two-thirds of those from Mainland China. Malaysia is trying to get its neglected Forest City development back on track and attract GFOs – though it is by no means clear that it currently presents a credible challenge to either Hong Kong or Singapore.