According to HSBC, its asset management arm will be in charge of its metaverse portfolio.
HSBC Holdings (LON: HSBA) has unveiled a Metaverse Discretionary Strategy investment portfolio for private banking clients in Asia. Thereby, the company is pitching further into the virtual reality market of 5 billion users, offering the latest service in Hong Kong and Singapore. As posited by the bank in a statement on April 6th, the approach aims to participate in the burgeoning expansion opportunities happening in the Metaverse. Also, the invention of HSBC’s metaverse ecosystem provides several options and will improve over the next decade. HSBC expects that the Metaverse will become the next iteration of the internet. Nicholas Dowell, portfolio manager at HSBC Asset Management in London, said in the statement:
“The metaverse is seen by many as the next stage in the evolution of the internet, with the effect it has on our daily lives expected to be as impactful as we saw in the early nineties.”
HSBC Chooses Asset Management Arm to Manage Metaverse Portfolio
According to HSBC, its asset management arm will be in charge of its metaverse portfolio. The portfolio will focus on five major areas, including infrastructure. Other segments are computing, experience and discovery, virtualization, and interface. Also, the metaverse discretionary approach is limited to Asia’s high-grossing professionals and investor clients.
The Metaverse adopts captivating technology by combining mixed reality, virtual reality, extended reality, video-conferencing, gaming, cryptocurrencies, email, social media, and live-streaming. As reported by Citi, the potential market opportunity for the Metaverse is between $8 trillion to $13 trillion by 2030. Lina Lim, regional head of discretionary and funds for investments and wealth solutions, Asia Pacific, at HSBC, commented:
“The metaverse ecosystem, while still at its early stage, is rapidly evolving. We see many exciting opportunities in this space as companies of different backgrounds and sizes are flocking into the ecosystem.”
Notably, quite a number of tech giants agree that the Metaverse is the future of human interaction. A precedent is Facebook’s transition to Meta Platforms Inc. Mark Zuckerberg took the leap for obvious remunerative reasons and opportunities.
HSBC’s Interest in Blockchain Technology
Contrary to the CEO’s claim that HSBC is not planning to offer crypto transactions to customers, the bank has an interest in blockchain technology. Setting its finance emissions targets to be Asia’s top lender by 2025, HSBC is committing $3.5 billion to its wealth and personal banking business. Other top wealth management firms, including UBS Group and Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS), have also boosted their Asia inventory.
It appears HSBC is dedicating itself to continuous expansion. Late last year, the company said it was launching an investment feature for young clients in the UK. In its bid to efficiently compete with other banking institutions, Hong Kong founded corporation is fast delving into traditional banking.
Last month, HSBC also declared to be the first financial institution to enter the SandBox metaverse. This was after it acquired a virtual property for sporting and gaming purposes.
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