But sources at five global wealth managers, including three of the region's top 10 by size, said client trading revenue in the region had risen in the first two months of 2020 compared to last year.Recent extremes in market volatility has encouraged clients to move beyond equity investing and into derivatives and structured products to hedge downside risk, they said.
"We have seen increasing client interest in both our discretionary and advisory mandate solutions since the beginning of the year," she said, without commenting on the impact of the virus on new client business.A HSBC spokesman said the lender has not seen any long-term impact on private banking as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, and has made no change to growth targets or hiring plans in Asia - its single largest market for the wealth business.
"Those things are not happening as clients are not willing to engage with frontline managers now due to fears of getting infected," said the Greater China head of a European private bank. New business has been hit as a result, the banker said.