HSBC, the largest lender in Hong Kong and Europe, has opened its first centre that combines wealth management, insurance and medical check-up services into a one-stop shop, as part of its broader effort to capture more ultra-wealthy customers in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The 10,000 square feet-plus centre is located at K11 Aterlier Victoria Dockside in Tsim Sha Tsui, and will serve HSBC customers with investible assets over US$1 million, the bank said on Wednesday. It plans to open two more centres with a similar concept next year, one on Hong Kong Island and another in a GBA city, said Edward Moncreiffe, chief executive of HSBC Life in Hong Kong.

"The new HSBC centre can meet the demand of our high-net-worth customers who want to have a one-stop shop to manage their health and well-being and support them in their wealth creation journeys," said Moncreiffe, adding that customers want to access these kinds of services in one place.

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HSBC Life offers health insurance coverage of up to HK$40 million per year and individual life risk policies of up to US$100 million per person, among the highest in the city. Many customers also want medical check-ups and illness prevention programs, said Moncreiffe, and the new centres will have doctors on site.

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The expansion is the latest move by HSBC to boost its wealth management services. The bank's third quarter earnings report on Monday showed that its private banking business in Asia Pacific contributed almost 80 per cent of global new money intake.

HSBC was among 19 local lenders approved to conduct the Wealth Management Scheme to sell products to both mainland and Hong Kong investors from last week. The bank has 5,000 staff and 60 wealth centres in the GBA to serve these customers.

The GBA is the Chinese government's plan to link the cities of Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing into an integrated economic and business hub.

Maggie Ng, head of wealth and personal banking for HSBC Hong Kong. said the centre should provide "a professional and yet relaxed environment [for high-net-worth clients] to discuss their financial needs with our wealth experts." She added the centre should capture mainland tourists from the GBA when the border reopens in future.

Ng said the GBA has over 450,000 families holding at least 6 million yuan (US$938,000) in investible assets but that less than 20 per cent of GBA residents in mainland China have overseas wealth products in their portfolios.

HSBC has competition. Manulife, the second-biggest insurer in Hong Kong, in August opened a 7,300 sq ft centre at the Gateway in Tsim Sha Tsui to cater to high-net-worth individuals, tripling the size of its previous footprint. The move dovetails with its plan to move into its fifth office tower in the city later this year.

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The city's top three insurers - AIA, Manulife and Prudential - last year hired many former airline and tourist industry workers displaced during the pandemic-driven economic slump. Hong Kong-based insurance sales staff expanded by 5 per cent to a record 129,939 at the end of May, official data shows.

Bowtie Life Insurance, which is Hong Kong's first virtual insurance company, opened a cafe in Wan Chai in March, and teamed up with the health care service provider JP Partners Medical in July to launch a health services centre in Wan Chai.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2021 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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