Zhitong Finance learned that according to the statistics of the Central Plains Real Estate Research Department, there were 1,228 bank conversion registrations in Hong Kong in February 2024, a decrease of 24.4% month-on-month. The data shows that in February, China CITIC Bank (02388) had a market share of 34.1% (419 registrations), a decrease of 3.5 percentage points from the previous month, but still ranked first in the conversion market share for six consecutive months. ICBC Asia ranked second, with 327 registrations, an increase of 8.4 percentage points month-on-month to 26.6% market share. HSBC recorded 155 conversion registrations, and its market share decreased by 1.3 percentage points month-on-month to 12.6%, ranking third for two consecutive months. Bank of East Asia (00023) maintained its fourth place, with 85 registrations and its market share decreased by 4.6 percentage points month-on-month to 6.9%. The total market share of the first four banks in conversion registration in February decreased by 0.8 percentage points to 80.3%.

According to Wang Meifeng, General Manager of Central Plains Mortgage, the incentive for conversion has been greatly reduced as Hong Kong banks raised new and conversion interest rates and reduced preferential treatment last year. As for the number of conversion applications, it has gradually declined since the fourth quarter of last year, resulting in a decrease in the number of conversion registrations in February this year. It is expected that the month-on-month conversion registration volume will drop to less than 1,000.

Wang Meifeng further pointed out that with the reduction of incentive for conversion and the recent large banks cutting back on conversion rewards to zero, she expects the conversion market to continue to be weak, and the registration volume for conversion will further decrease in the second quarter of this year.