By Taylan Turan, CEO of Retail Banking, Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC
It is tempting sometimes, when reflecting on our life experiences, to let our gaze be drawn to one piece of the puzzle—the one thing we thought had made the difference. The reality, as we recognise in those moments when we think a little more deeply, is not quite so simple. It’s never just one thing that gets us to where we want to be. Many parts make our whole. Our successes—and our failures—are ultimately the products of everything and everyone around us in our past and our present. We hope we can nurture those things within us that will lead to success. However, we all need help to define those goals—whether outcome, performance or process.
We think a lot about this at HSBC, taking time to understand what our customers care about, what their needs are, what might hold them back and what might help them to flourish.
An Olympic year always brings inspirational stories of courage and determination into our homes. As the father of a daughter who has long been passionate about swimming, I have been particularly struck by the example of Yip Pin Xiu, the Singaporean swimmer and Southeast Asia’s most successful swimming Paralympian.
Since winning her first gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, Yip has won six more—including two at this year’s Paris 2024 games. Listening to her speak of the way that she has overcome challenges—using her voice to advocate for change and empowerment—is truly inspiring.
Back in 2008, Yip was just 16 years old, but she already had a remarkably clear sense of goals—how to define them, how to measure progress against them and how to achieve them. At a recent HSBC event in Singapore, she showed the piece of paper on which she had written down her goals all those years ago. It matters so much to her because of what it has led to—incredible success in the discipline that Yip has made her own. Getting to the gold level has taken awe-inspiring dedication and effort.
According to Yip, the secret to her success has been her approach to goals.
Right from the start, she knew what she had to do to succeed. She needed to set an outcome goal—to win a gold medal. To achieve that, she would need to swim for a certain time, which became her performance goal; she recognised the importance of tracking that diligently through the four competitions that led up to Beijing in 2008. She also had her process goals—targets that covered everything from her training regime, stroke length and even sleep schedule.
But perhaps most remarkable of all, she also had the maturity to know that she needed to surround herself with the right team—and to share her goals with them so that they could support her to achieve them.
The annual “HSBC Quality of Life Report” asks affluent customers what they think about the concept of quality of life. In our most recent survey, we asked more than 11,000 people in 11 different markets about their fitness in three critical areas: physical, mental and financial. We crunched all that data to produce a score—what we call our Quality of Life Index. This year, it came out at 76, up one point from 2023. That’s better than a drop, but we think we can help move that score further up the scale.
As with life, this is a multidimensional endeavour. The three separate elements show strong correlations. People reporting a high level of physical wellness, for example, are more than 10 times as likely to report a high level of mental wellness. Those with good mental wellness are, in turn, more than twice as likely to score highly for financial fitness. We believe that only by addressing all three dimensions can people truly thrive. This core conviction has been the driving force behind the way we’ve reshaped our Premier offering to include an enhanced suite of services.
The concept of interconnectedness is the most important—and exciting—insight from the study: the way these different dimensions of wellness contribute to our holistic quality of life. Again, it’s not just one thing. And it’s definitely not just money. It’s why we think beyond banking when designing products. All these aspects deserve attention because, together, they empower people to fulfil their potentials. Neglect one, and it impacts the ability to succeed in the others. But look after all three, and the possibilities become limitless.
HSBC’s new Premier offering is one way we help our affluent customers realise their goals. Now more than ever, this dynamic, internationally-minded, cohort is shaping the future of wealth—and the future of banking. To gain insights into how to elevate our Premier capabilities, we spoke to 2,500 of these customers. We then curated our efforts across the four themes that we believe are most relevant to them: wealth, health, travel and international. All told, the mass affluent segment accounts for 11 percent of the world’s population and about 40 percent of its wealth. Those who are customers of HSBC are significant contributors to the assets that our retail customers have invested with us, which totalled US$412 billion as of June 2024.
It’s no mean feat to recast an established product that has been successful for more than two decades. Our goal was more than a simple refresh. A root-and-branch review showed us how we could leverage our unique breadth and reach to bring customers the holistic planning tools that will help them manage whatever life throws their way.
Planning is a vital path to successful decision-making; like the compound interest in a savings account, good decision-making builds on itself, leading to better and better decisions in the future. But it can be hard to get started on that path.
A recent HSBC study called “Seizing Uncertainty” examined making decisions in a world that is getting harder to predict. The study found that seven in ten people thought it was more difficult to plan for the future today than it used to be—and half felt they were not equipped to manage the decisions they had to make. Data like this shows that providing tools to help with planning should lead to better-informed decision-making. Sometimes the planning phase is critical for maintaining well-being. Yip herself spoke of the need to prioritise mental health in the pursuit of goals and seek out the right advice.
HSBC’s new Future Planner helps mobile-banking customers define and track their goals, such as buying a house or putting their children through university. Planning for retirement is another critically important contributor to quality of life. Affluent customers tell us that healthcare costs and mental well-being are more important than ever. However, nearly a quarter of them feel they do not have enough healthcare protection in place right now. By linking up with a range of providers, the bank is bringing virtual doctor consultations and check-ups to customers, as well as mental-health support. Sometimes it is ensuring the well-being of those closest to us that is the challenge we must meet. We are, after all, in the age of the “sandwich generation”, those who must simultaneously look after their young children and their ageing parents. This is no easy task.
Effective help and planning are also all the more important in a world in which people are mobile. A global bank makes it easier for them to be internationally agile, accompanying them all around the world as they open new accounts, transfer money or buy properties.
Other details matter too. So, HSBC has teamed up with strategic partners to bring a touch of magic to all sorts of other experiences. For example, we know that it’s the details that can be the difference between a stress-free trip and a nightmare holiday, which is why we’ve added a dash of jet-set to our Premier credit card, such as access to airport lounges and fine dining. Again, it’s about removing the stress to empower people to do more.
Goals change. That’s not surprising, given that the things that define them—the markets, our jobs, our families—are also constantly changing. Life is rarely a straight line. A once-in-a-lifetime one-year job contract takes us to a foreign city; 10 years later, we are still there and starting a new family. These shifts are not always within our control, but through planning, we can ensure we are flexible enough to adapt.
Helping people plan and adapt is precisely what we aim to do at HSBC. Our international networks open up worlds of opportunity for customers. By accompanying their dynamic lives, we help them reach their potential.
It was this belief that we could improve the lives of our international customers that was behind the relaunch of our international offering in early 2023, when we made six promises to make life easier for those customers—ranging from being able to open an account before they even arrive at their destinations to giving them access to non-banking services, such as relocation or tax advice through our third-party partners.
In many ways, the current enhancement of our Premier suite of services is really the outcome of what we started in 2023. And iterating like this, building on top of what we have already put in place, is in keeping with the continuous improvement mindset that we apply to everything.
Customer centricity should be at the heart of everything a bank does, inspiring it to provide exceptional service. Our enhanced engagement—through our elevated Premier capabilities—speaks to our belief in the power of partnerships to drive fulfilment and growth. I want us to be positive contributors to that sum of experience mentioned at the beginning of this article. And that means helping to tackle the stresses of life as much as it means seizing its opportunities.
Most importantly of all, it’s about giving customers the ability to plan ahead, recognising that it is reaching the small goals that opens the paths to the big goals. And just as Yip Pin Xiu needs her team around her to support her journey to Paralympic glory, customers need their own financial team around them today.
A bank can be that team for its customers. Inspired by the example set by the best athletes in the world, helping people steer towards their goals and take steps on their journey; walking alongside as they make the best decisions at every fork in the road.