HSBC is aiming to succeed in the banking business for small and medium-sized (SME) enterprises in Taiwan over the next five years, after acquiring The Chinese Bank (中華銀行) in March, a company official said yesterday.
The bank plans to expand its SME business by utilizing 36 branches taken over from The Chinese Bank, which are expected to add some 36,000 commercial banking customers, Margaret Leung (梁高美懿), general manager at HSBC global commercial banking, said at a press briefing.
“In the past, HSBC was less competitive in the SME sector due to our smaller number of branches. Now with a total of 44 outlets and three yet to open, HSBC aims to become the most successful and important SME bank in Taiwan in the next five years,” Leung said. “The target is aggressive but achievable.”
HSBC said its definition of the nation’s SMEs are companies with annual sales of less than US$10 million.
HSBC Holdings PLC’s annual report last year said profits generated from the commercial and financial business sector grew 19 percent year-on-year to US$7.15 billion globally last year, with 42 percent of the profits from the Greater China region (including the Middle East).
Moreover, HSBC’s successful cross-border referrals through its global links in the Greater China region last year were three times than that in 2006.
Leung attributed the growth last year to the good investment environment. In addition, as many Chinese companies choose to go public in Hong Kong, HSBC also captured a lot of initial public offering (IPO) business last year.
As for HSBC’s outlook for this year, Leung said although recovery in the US economy will not likely come prior to 2010, she did not see Asia going into recession this year, for the region has experienced large inflows of direct foreign investments from Western countries over the past 10 years.
“The economic growth in the Greater China region this year will slow down a bit compared to last year, but it will not be a recession,” Leung said.
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