A survey conducted by the private wealth management industry in Hong Kong showed that almost all private banking institutions in the city remain optimistic about the industry outlook over the next few years, with almost 80 percent of respondents considering Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area initiatives as vital to business growth.

The 11th edition of Hong Kong Private Wealth Management Report 2026, coauthored by the Private Wealth Management Association (PWMA) and KPMG China, was compiled after interviewing 35 PWMA institution members and 17 asset managers between June and August this year.

The report shows 94 percent of surveyed private banking firms remain moderately or highly optimistic about the market prospects over the next five years, and 77 percent of them see increased demand for new accounts and asset booking in the special administrative region, compared with 59 percent last year.

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Some 80 percent of the respondents added that initiatives regarding the Greater Bay Area would be critical or modestly important to their offshore Hong Kong businesses over the next five years.

The report highlighted the bigger role artificial intelligence is playing in private wealth management, with 88 percent of respondents reporting moderate or significant progress in applying various AI technologies, compared with 56 percent a year earlier.

“Your next client will be more international and entrepreneurial, more likely to be younger, with women increasing in number, and looking for both returns and purpose,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said at the PWMA Wealth Management Summit 2026 organized by the PWMA on Thursday.

The finance chief added that “as higher rates and greater uncertainty are redrawing the map of capital, investors are diversifying across markets and currencies, and Hong Kong is a clear beneficiary of capital inflow.”

Hong Kong is now the world’s largest cross-border wealth management center in the world, with assets under management by the private wealth management industry having grown 20 percent year-on-year to over HK$42 trillion ($5.35 trillion). Boston Consulting Group projects Hong Kong’s cross-border wealth to grow at around 9 percent annually through 2030.

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Kevin Wong Tin-yau, chairman at the Securities and Futures Commission, said the future of private wealth management does not rest on technology alone; human judgement is also important.

“For Hong Kong, our task is not to choose between technology and humanity but to bring the best of both together. Technology gives us scale. Judgement gives us direction. Trust gives us confidence. And all three will be necessary if Hong Kong is to capture the opportunities ahead, because private wealth management is about managing people’s confidence in decisions that affect their future,” he said.

A panel at the summit discussed Hong Kong’s role in the Asian private wealth management industry. Panelists agreed that the private wealth management industry in Hong Kong must play the new role of superconnector when modern wealthy families are increasingly international, entrepreneurial and multigenerational.

“Families actually change their expectations of products. They are no longer expecting us only to focus on the investment portfolio. They want us to understand what it means in the business, the families, the wealth transfer, and succession,” said Kanas Chan, head of North Asia and Hong Kong at HSBC Private Bank.

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Horace Yip, head of Hong Kong at Citi Private Bank, said that private wealth industry practitioners have to upgrade their knowledge about wealth creators, as well as to know how to connect their clients with different parts of the business. “We need to speak the same language as the wealth creators in this current landscape.”

“While wealth protection, global asset allocation and multi-jurisdiction tax planning remain essential, family expectations shift from passive wealth preservation to strategic capital orchestration and cross-border expansion,” said Diao Zhihai, international business head of Wealth Management at China International Capital Corp.

Diao added that scale in wealth management is just a baseline, so that “Hong Kong should not only be the transition point for capital, but also a hub where capital, industry and family can connect.”

David Shick, market head Greater China Hong Kong and branch manager Hong Kong at Bank Julius Baer & Co, said, “The underlying product connectivity comes from people connectivity, the connection that is fundamentally driving the advantage of this city. There are very few cities or financial centers that can replicate this.”