HSBC Holdings has appointed Hannes Hofmann as global head of family offices, a newly created role based in London, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday. Hofmann joins the lender on Thursday and will be responsible for overseeing HSBC's global family office proposition. He was most recently global head of the family office group at Citi Private Bank. Hofmann brings more than 25 years of experience in global private banking, including a 20-year tenure at J.P. Morgan Private Bank with postings in New York, Hong Kong and London.
The bank simultaneously named Cayman Wills as head of its US private banking business, effective 22 September and based in New York. Wills was previously head of the Northeast region at Citi Private Bank, where she led a team of relationship managers and investment specialists serving high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients, and spent 18 years at JPMorgan in various leadership roles before that. Both appointees report to Ida Liu, chief executive of HSBC Private Bank, who joined HSBC in January 2026 after about 18 years at Citi, latterly as head of Citi Private Bank. Wills carries an additional entity reporting line to Racquel Oden, head of international wealth and premier banking and private banking in the US.
A SERIES OF PRIVATE BANK APPOINTMENTS
The two hires follow a series of private banking leadership appointments since Liu took the top private banking role at the start of the year. HSBC appointed four private banking leaders across Asia and the Middle East in August, naming Vivek Pandohi, who led HSBC Private Bank's UAE Global India and Expat business, as head of Middle East for Global India, and recruiting desk heads from Bank of Singapore and UBS for its Singapore operation. In July, the bank named Dimitri Anghelakis head of trust and fiduciary services, relocating him from London to Hong Kong, to succeed Brent York, who is retiring after more than four decades at the bank.
Hofmann, Wills and Liu all held senior positions at Citi Private Bank.
WEALTH PERFORMANCE
The appointments come against a backdrop of strong performance in HSBC's wealth franchise. In interim results published on 4 August, the bank reported net new money of $64 billion in its wealth business for the first half of 2026, of which $57 billion was booked in Asia, up 32 per cent from $43 billion a year earlier. Total wealth balances rose 7 per cent to $1.58 trillion, split between $1.09 trillion in Asia and $487 billion elsewhere. Wealth fee and other income grew 18 per cent at constant currency to $5.5 billion, with private banking income up 14 per cent. Group pre-tax profit for the six months reached $19.5 billion, a 23 per cent increase on the $15.8 billion recorded a year earlier.
HSBC said the appointments support its strategy to better serve the growing number of ultra-high-net-worth and family office clients. In his London-based role, Hofmann will partner closely with HSBC's Corporate and Institutional Banking teams to deliver the full capabilities of HSBC to family office clients.
Bank news that matters, every weekday.
Follow The Global Banker on LinkedIn