Remote control of wealth management helps sustainability drive saving a return trip to the South Pole

With two separate phases of lockdown, alongside Government advice to work from home where possible, HSBC has temporarily replaced it’s face-to-face wealth management service with video calls and telephone conversations, while access to branch is restricted, making it more convenient and providing more ‘out of hours’ appointments.

HSBC UK’s timely introduction of video calls for remote wealth advice and servicing took place on the 20th March, just days before the Prime Minister announced the first lockdown when the UK public was told that they will only be allowed to leave their homes for very limited reasons, including food shopping, exercise once per day, medical need and travelling for work when absolutely necessary.

Since the introduction of remote wealth advice, HSBC UK has:

• Trained 640 wealth advisers and relationship managers on remote interviews, including the regulatory recording of interviews;
• Carried out almost 11,000 appointments by Zoom;
• Saved almost 900,000 sheets of paper, which equates to 8 tons of carbon emissions or a return trip to the South Pole in an average petrol car (over 20,000 miles);
• Spent a total of almost 1.2 million minutes (119 weeks or 27 months working 24 hrs a day) remotely giving wealth advice and servicing customers, including 500k minutes on Zoom and almost 700k minutes of screen-sharing; and
• Almost 2,500 client documents uploaded, including Power of Attorney, solicitors’ letters, probate information, pension forecasts or statements.

James Hewitson, HSBC UK’s Head of Wealth, said: “The world has changed right before our eyes, and all of us, both individuals and businesses, have needed to adapt, and adapt quickly.”

“Our use of video calls in providing wealth management to our customers has been a game-changer for us, especially as our branches have had restricted access and opening hours. It has meant we have been able to continue giving our customers advice on their wealth and investments, including reviewing investment portfolios, at the most volatile time for markets in living memory.

“Our army of advisers have pretty much exclusively been working from home, using technology that they weren’t familiar with before. They have shown an amazing resilience and an ability to be agile in the face of extreme adversity. I am incredibly proud of them and what they have achieved.”

Media enquiries to:

Email: UKPressOffice@hsbc.co.uk