Financial services company HSBC has announced a collaboration with South Korean esports organisation T1.
The partnership in particular promotes HSBC One, the company’s Hong Kong-focused bank account, with T1’s League of Legends team front and centre of the marketing activations.
A video announcing the partnership highlighted that T1 will host a fan event in September where its League of Legends roster will visit Hong Kong. This opportunity will only be available for customers who set up an HSBC One account and will be decided via a lucky draw. Further details on the event will be announced in May.
The description in the YouTube video teases that the partnership aims to bring a series of esports event activations, along with ‘surprises that go beyond banking’, however no other information was disclosed.
T1’s League of Legends roster has also been heavily featured on HSBC One’s website promoting the bank account. The benefits of the account and its reward schemes are explained by using terms such as ‘Rapid Reflex’ and ‘Legendary Assist’.
This is not the first time HSBC has looked to integrate itself into the esports industry. Last year the financial company’s UK branch secured a large-scale partnership with EXCEL ESPORTS (now rebranded to GAINTX) which focused on educating fans about financial literacy. In 2022, esports media platform ONE Esports announced a Malaysia and Indonesia-focused collaboration with HSBC. Esports Insiders’ events arm partnered with HSBC UK for ESI London.
The decision to focus on T1’s League of Legends roster for its Hong Kong-focused collaboration makes sense given the team’s global popularity, particularly within Asia.
Alongside being the current League of Legends world champions, T1’s roster often tops viewership statistics across the LCK, League of Legends’ franchised South Korean league. As of this writing, T1 is currently featured in the top 5 most viewed matches for the 2024 LCK Spring Split, according to Esports Charts.
