Hong Kong is expected to become the world’s largest cross-border wealth management hub, as mainland securities firms keep a close eye on the HKD 35 trillion wealth game.

Ask AI · How can Chinese-funded brokerages break through competitive barriers under bidirectional capital flows?

China Finance Network (Caixin) March 31 report (reporter Zhao Xinrui) Industry research estimates that Hong Kong is expected to replace Switzerland as the world’s largest cross-border wealth management hub. By 2031, assets under private wealth management are expected to exceed $2.6 trillion, doubling compared with 2024. This shift creates room for Chinese-funded brokerages to grow their wealth management business in Hong Kong.

Behind the opportunities lies intensifying industry competition and mounting pressure on Chinese-funded brokerages to break through. According to data from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the total scale of Hong Kong’s asset and wealth management business has reached HK$35 trillion. Foreign institutions account for the majority, and international giants such as UBS, HSBC, and Standard Chartered still dominate thanks to their mature global networks.

By contrast, Chinese-funded brokerages are accelerating their expansion in Hong Kong. A key signal is that within the past year, at least including Shanxi Securities, China Merchants Securities, Soochow Securities, GF Securities, Hua Tai Securities, and others, multiple brokerages have densely rolled out capital increase plans for their Hong Kong subsidiaries. The investments are all focused on developing overseas business; wealth management is one of the core businesses with relatively high concentration of capital. At the same time, mid-sized and smaller brokerages are also speeding up their layout of wealth management licenses in Hong Kong. It can be seen that wealth management is becoming the core battleground for Chinese-funded brokerages to move toward internationalization.

To explore the internationalization pathways and market positioning choices for Chinese-funded brokerages’ wealth management business in Hong Kong, the reporter learned from feedback from interviews with some brokerages that improving international operating capabilities—and achieving a balance between domestic and overseas investors’ wealth allocation needs in terms of resource投入—has become a breakthrough point for conducting wealth management business in Hong Kong.

Upgrade international operating capabilities through three dimensions: product innovation, business linkage, and improving brand recognition

In the face of Hong Kong’s highly internationalized market rules and customer needs, building an operating system aligned with international standards is a mandatory question for Chinese-funded brokerages. Their operating capabilities are also undergoing a leap from a “compliance baseline” to “ecosystem building.”

Brokerage Hong Kong subsidiaries interviewed said that Hong Kong SFC licenses 1 and 4 are only the starting point. The real core threshold lies in tailoring a compliance and risk-control system that meets both domestic and overseas standards. Under cross-border regulatory conditions, compliance capabilities directly determine a brand’s long-term competitiveness. Meanwhile, Chinese-funded brokerages are using global product networks to replace physical branches, leveraging international resource cooperation to rapidly fill gaps in global asset allocation and seize opportunities for growth in non-resident assets in Hong Kong.

A survey and整理 by Caixin Securities reporters shows that, currently, Chinese-funded brokerages operating wealth management businesses in Hong Kong have begun to show three strategic paths:

Global platform model: supported by cross-border business collaboration to form coverage across the entire domain. The layout of CICC proves this positioning. As early as 2012, CICC International Wealth Management initiated a global product layout. Today, it has established cooperation with more than 90 internationally renowned asset managers, building a database and rating system covering asset classes across the full spectrum, providing clients with professional allocation services with a global perspective.

“On the ‘Series 50’ buy-side investment advisory system, we have also innovated in overseas markets by launching two service frameworks—‘China 50 International Edition’ and ‘Global 50’—and rolling these services out to emerging markets such as the Middle East. By constructing allocation portfolios that align with clients’ investment preferences and individualized goals, and through flexible and diverse service models, we deliver end-to-end professional companionship from pre-investment, through investment, to post-investment.” A relevant CICC executive said.

Cross-border business collaboration is an important support for this positioning. Relying on the geographical advantage of its headquarters in the Greater Bay Area, CICC has actively promoted the innovative development of cross-border business. It became one of the first approved pilot brokerages for “Cross-border Wealth Management Connect 2.0.” In the pilot business, it achieved full-cycle business scenario coverage, from account opening and funds remittance, to product trading and real-time FX settlement. The executive disclosed that,

In the future, the company will continue to strengthen the linkage between its international business and the operations of more than 200 domestic branches, and optimize cross-border service processes by leveraging global network resources.

In terms of brand internationalization, CICC’s layout has an even longer-term perspective. CICC International Wealth Management not only extends its brand to multiple locations including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Riyadh, but also expands its influence by hosting a series of flagship forums. In 2025, it will hold a wealth management conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, to deepen cross-market and cross-cultural exchanges. At the same time, CICC also focuses on localized development, continuously advancing investor education and inclusive financial services through diverse partnerships with universities, charitable institutions, and others.

Technology-enabled model: using digital tools to build “one client, one profile” customer personas. Unlike CICC’s comprehensive layout, GF Securities focuses on three directions: AI empowerment, cross-border coordination, and brand building. On the asset allocation side, it uses big data and AI technology to build customer personas, enabling “one client, one profile” product recommendations. For example, GF Securities (Hong Kong) has launched smart conditional order tools for order placement, and investment advisory tools such as “Rui Jin Gu,” “Rui Jia Jia,” and others.

On cross-border business coordination, the company actively promotes the implementation of projects such as Stock Connect (Shenzhen-Hong Kong), Bond Connect, and Cross-border Wealth Management Connect. In 2024, GF Securities became one of the first brokerages for “Cross-border Wealth Management Connect,” facilitating bidirectional asset allocation services for investors in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

In international brand building, the Hong Kong subsidiary integrates quickly into the local market through cooperation with local financial institutions and technology companies. In January of this year, GF Securities (Hong Kong) officially joined the Hong Kong Private Wealth Management Association (PWMA). With this, it can rely on the association to integrate global asset allocation resources, break through geographical barriers, and further lay a foundation for tailored asset allocation方案 for high-net-worth clients.

Vertical deep-focused model: emphasizing practical implementation and building a closed-loop industrial chain. The path of Huafu Securities reveals the survival rule for mid-sized and smaller brokerages: when resources are limited, depth is better than breadth. Its business closed loop of “underwriting + placement + wealth management” is not simply a mechanical combination of business components converting IPO industry chain traffic into long-term clients, but rather turning license advantages into relationship stickiness.

Huafu Securities’ Hong Kong subsidiary places more emphasis on converting international operating capabilities into practical actions that align with its own development stage. Its core focuses on four dimensions: product innovation, team building, business linkage, and service upgrades—systematically improving market competitiveness.

On optimizing the product system, Huafu International emphasizes that products must be “practical and diversified.” It not only covers basic product categories, but also needs to build a standardized product matrix across different risk levels. At the same time, it strengthens the development of customized and structured products. For example, for core client segments such as major shareholders and executives of cross-border listed companies, it provides special services including stock custody as well as plans for increasing holdings and reducing holdings. It also supports employee incentive (ESOP)-related wealth management方案. In addition, it can also develop services such as subscribing to new issues, stock placement, and financing services around market hotspots such as Hong Kong stock IPOs, to meet clients’ differentiated needs such as steady value growth and risk hedging.

On team building, Huafu International focuses on building a sales service team that combines international vision with local experience in Hong Kong. In particular, it develops and brings in professionals who are familiar with Hong Kong market rules and have hands-on capability in cross-border business operations. Meanwhile, it strengthens internal training to enhance the team’s professional literacy in areas such as global asset allocation and interpretations of cross-border regulatory compliance.

On business linkage, it focuses on the IPO industry chain. Using Hong Kong IPOs, international placements, and bulk transactions as key levers, it provides one-stop services for stock custody, increasing holdings, reducing holdings plans, and other needs for anchor investors, Pre-IPO shareholders, and more. In this way, it converts traffic business into long-term wealth management business, forming a business closed loop of “underwriting + placement + wealth management.”

At the same time, it promotes integrated services by integrating resources such as wealth management, corporate financing, and research advisory, to provide one-stop comprehensive financial services for clients including cross-border asset allocation and family trusts—reducing client costs of coordinating across multiple institutions. It also strengthens its market presence by participating in international financial forums and industry summits, gradually improving the brand’s visibility and recognition in Hong Kong and global markets.

Under the HK$35 trillion market: choices in positioning—bidirectional services become a consensus

A Bloomberg report estimates that the share of assets under management attributable to Hong Kong private banking and private wealth management by investors in Hong Kong and Mainland China will increase by about 73% by 2031; and for each 10% of net overseas investment absorbed in Hong Kong from Mainland investors, the assets under management in the private banking and private wealth management industry are expected to grow by 5%-6%. Over the next three to five years, Mainland China will become the largest source of new clients for Hong Kong financial institutions. Among these new clients, 30% may come from Mainland China. Without a doubt, Hong Kong will become the first stop for Mainland wealth to go overseas.

Meanwhile, international investors’ interest in allocating Chinese assets is also warming up continuously, especially long-horizon funds and sovereign wealth funds, which are particularly active. Taken together, this means that the bidirectional service capability of “serving Chinese capital going overseas” and “attracting foreign capital into China” will become the dividing line for Chinese-funded brokerages’ competition. Balancing resource allocation between these two client groups can further drive efficient business growth.

Relying on the advantages of combining international perspective with deep local understanding, CICC, on the one hand, turns complex market conditions into a clear investment framework, helping international investors share long-term opportunities in China’s economic development. On the other hand, for challenges that investors with Mainland backgrounds may face when performing global allocation, it leverages a dual-core business layout covering both Hong Kong and Shenzhen, consolidating capabilities across the platform for investment, research, and advisory. By providing products across the full spectrum, it helps clients reach global market opportunities and enables a smooth transition from “a single market” to “global allocation.” This is also a vivid example of how CICC supports cross-border connectivity and services the bidirectional opening of capital markets.

GF Securities believes that possessing an international vision and global asset allocation capability is a key factor for financial institutions to move into the first tier. In balancing resource投入, on the one hand, the company increases投入 in cutting-edge technology, using modern technology to improve business operating efficiency and reduce the costs of coordination and communication across multiple regions as well as data cross-border costs. On the other hand, it conducts overall resource integration to achieve localized cross-border coordination, reaching the goal of “going out” and “bringing in” through cross-border coordination.

Huafu International focuses on the layout of business manpower and compliance licenses. In a conversation with reporters, the company said that it has already introduced multiple core business personnel, widely distributed across wealth management, corporate financing, ECM, DCM, asset management, and other fields. It is also applying for other related licenses for wealth management business. Combined with its existing licenses 1, 4, 6, and 9, it will fully build a wealth management full-license business chain.

In terms of differentiated breakthroughs, Huafu International has formed clear priority directions and targeted breakthrough strategies. Reporters learned that the company is improving internal system development and bringing in professional talent on one side, while focusing on key industries and core clients such as gold and AI chip manufacturing on the other. It has already accumulated multiple successful案例. Overall, Huafu International is leveraging its advantages in licenses, geography, culture, and channels to meet foreign investors’ investment needs for high-quality assets in relevant areas of China, achieving business growth through precise service.

One phenomenon worth noting is: although foreign institutions still dominate, client stickiness of Chinese-funded brokerages is starting to show. CICC’s dual-core business layout across Hong Kong and Shenzhen, as well as GF Securities’ full-cycle coverage of Cross-border Wealth Management Connect, essentially address the same pain point—cognitive frictions and operational barriers that Mainland investors face during the “going out” process, which is precisely the shortcoming of foreign institutions. Leveraging this advantage, in the future 3-5 years, the 30% Mainland investors among newly added clients may be a key factor for Chinese-funded brokerages to open more room for growth in wealth management business in Hong Kong.

The next race point has shifted to the contest over deepening cultivation

Amid the wave of global wealth management moving eastward, Hong Kong is accelerating its move toward becoming the world’s largest cross-border wealth management center. According to industry estimates, by 2031 Hong Kong and Mainland investors may account for about 73% of assets under management in Hong Kong’s private banking and private wealth management industry, up from 65% in 2024. China’s affluent class will become the most important source of incremental funding for asset management scale both inside and outside the country.

Against this backdrop, who can create an irreplaceable hub value in the bidirectional capital flows of “bringing in” and “going out” is attracting attention, and will become the core proposition of competition in the next phase. In a horizontal comparison, Chinese-funded brokerages need to catch up with international giants in global product pools, compliance systems, and brand credibility. In a vertical deepening approach, they need to focus on core client groups such as high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, and family offices—building end-to-end services covering asset allocation, IPO support, employee incentives, all the way to family trusts and wealth inheritance.

Once the layout is finalized, the next test for Chinese-funded brokerages may already shift to how to convert internationalized layouts into wealth management service capabilities that are practical and deeply cultivated.

(China Finance Network reporter Zhao Xinrui)