HSBC Holdings and its subsidiary Hang Seng Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and China Citic Bank International (CNCBI) are among the major lenders rushing to open luxury wealth centres in Hong Kong to capture high-net-worth customers.

HSBC last week opened its fifth such centre, on the 58th floor of Two International Finance Centre, with 13,000 sq ft and 34 meeting rooms with harbour views. This is in addition to its similar centres located in the HSBC building in Central, the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon, K11 in Tsim Sha Tsui and Hysan Place in Causeway Bay.

Standard Chartered next month will open a new wealth-management centre – its seventh in the city – at One Causeway Bay, a new office building with expansive harbour views on the site of the former Excelsior Hotel. HSBC subsidiary Hang Seng Bank recently opened a centre at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui, with 19 private rooms and nearly 10,000 sq ft of space. And CNCBI recently opened a 10,000 sq ft centre in Citic Tower in Admiralty, nearly two times larger than its previous centre in another location.

All of the banks are building these luxury locations to expand their wealth-management businesses and increase their fee income – crucial at a time of relatively low interest rates. Meanwhile, competing on the basis of extensive networks of bank branches has become a thing of the past.

Wealth-management centres offer a different experience than bank branches, said Janet Pang, managing director and head of retail business at HSBC Hong Kong.

“Wealth centres are intentionally located in premium office premises to provide a more private and exclusive environment for our clients,” Pang said. “Unlike standard branches, these spaces offer greater flexibility, such as enclosed cash service within meeting rooms and larger family rooms designed to accommodate wealth-planning conversations that involve multiple family members. This level of space and confidentiality is not easily replicable in a typical branch set-up.”