HSBC Holdings, Europe’s largest bank, is looking to expand in asset and wealth management in order to capitalize on the growing funds of the middle class in Asia and to diversify its business away from traditional lending. The bank would accomplish this goal by making 3 or 4 acquisitions globally this year - with a particular focus on China. The targets would be portfolios of assets or platforms allowing the bank to offer a wider range of products, rather than sizeable asset-management companies.

This is a common theme among international banks, which have been growing their wealth and asset management arms as balance-sheet lending and securities trading become less profitable under new capital rules.

• JPMorgan Chase’s asset-management unit has grown to oversee about $1.7 trillion globally and set up a money manager in Shanghai last year – under the leadership of Mary Callahan Erdoes.
• Swiss lenders UBS and Credit Suisse are shifting resources to the higher potential returns in Asian wealth management, while pulling back from investment banking in Europe.

CEO Stuart Gulliver has been under pressure to streamline HSBC, and the bank’s acquisition program started in June 2015 with redeployment of as much as $150 billion of assets to Asia and the hiring of 4,000 people in the Pearl River Delta region around Hong Kong, where Gulliver pledged to “capture growth opportunities” in asset management.