BOC Hong Kong's Wealth Income, Assets Rise In H1

Editorial Staff

31 August 2021

has said that its wealth management business generated 18 per cent and 33 per cent year-on-year growth in the assets under management and wealth management income, respectively in the first half of 2021 from a year earlier.

For the bank as a whole, net operating income before impairment allowances stood at HK$25.050 billion ($3.22 billion), falling 12.8 per cent per cent from the second half of 2020; profit after tax was HK$13.591 billion, down 15.9 per cent year-on-year but up 10.4 from the second half of last year, it said in a statement yesterday. The fall in profit was mainly led by lower net interest income as a result of falling market interest rates.

Net fee and commission income stood at HK$6.657 billion, rising 22.5 per cent year-on-year and rising 23.1 per cent from the second half of last year. This gain was mainly attributable to a “solid” year-on-year growth of 26.4 per cent in commission income from the investment and insurance business, which benefited from the vibrant capital market and mutual market access business.

Also contributing to this growth was the rebound in traditional fee income due to the resumption of economic activity in Hong Kong as the pandemic eased, BOC Hong Kong said.

The bank reflected on how it is preparing to develop cross-border business linking Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland. The group is also preparing for the cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect Pilot Scheme. It has enhanced its GBA Account Opening Service, with more than 140,000 mainland accounts opened via the service as of the end of June 2021, while the volume and number of transactions of cross-border remittances through these accounts increased 1.4 times and 1.2 times year-on-year respectively during the period.