Standard Chartered Group (02888) Chief Executive Bill Winters told Hong Kong media in an interview that he observed a large influx of new funds into Asian financial centers such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Dubai. He believes that the new generation of entrepreneurs in mainland China are accumulating a large amount of wealth and will likely shift their focus from business development to investment in financial products. He thinks this will be beneficial for Hong Kong, which offers a wide range of financial products. Winters also mentioned that Hong Kong has made significant progress in the past two years, but Western investors may not have a comprehensive understanding of China and Hong Kong through local media. He stressed the importance of experiencing Hong Kong's business environment and investment opportunities firsthand. As a financial institution that has been rooted in Hong Kong for 165 years, Standard Chartered is willing to act as a "financial ambassador" for Hong Kong. Winters pointed out that Hong Kong has many advantages, including being a safe place for storing value, having a strong and predictable legal system, allowing for free and unrestricted capital flows, access to various global investment products, and attracting talent. While Hong Kong is becoming more of a financial center for China, it is also a true global financial center. He believes that opportunities in mainland China are still abundant, with young entrepreneurs driving wealth accumulation and diversifying their investment portfolios gradually. Regarding the older population, he believes that their main source of wealth comes from the property market, and they are currently facing pressure. While the property market may recover, it may not be as fast as before. He mentioned that China's current challenge is whether it can create wealth on a large scale like it did in the past 30 years. He sees strong "animal spirits" in China, which are not active now but could drive the country's growth when they become active. He also mentioned that as banks introduce more automation, the future of banking will be more streamlined. Standard Chartered announced a "efficiency and savings" plan in February, aiming to save approximately $1.5 billion USD (approximately 11.7 billion HKD) in cumulative expenses over the next three years. The plan involves streamlining operations and systems, which may lead to some employees losing their jobs. The bank has started training these employees to transition to the integrated systems, and Winters believes that there will be reductions in manpower as processes become automated, but he expects the attrition rate in affected departments to be much lower than the industry average.