HSBC sees growth in consumer banking

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) sees greater growth in consumer banking over commercial or corporate banking in the country this year.

Proof of HSBC’s bullish prospects on consumer banking this year, is the introduction of various consumer products aside from the enhancement of its thrift bank, the HSBC Savings Bank.

"There are better prospects (for the Philippine economy) this year," said Paul Lawrence, HSBC chief executive officer in the Philippines. "Consumer banking will grow probably two times from last year, while the commercial banking sector will not register spectacular growth."

Lawrence said that HSBC is expecting the consumer banking sector to contribute significantly to the banks’ overall performance this year.

Speaking during the launching of the online@hsbc, the bank’s Internet banking service yesterday, bank officers admitted that the market for consumer banking has not grown tremendously in the past three years.

This means that the aggressive pitch of the bank would likely eat into the market share of other competitor banks.

"We would like to grow in line with the growth of the market but we would also have to get into the market share of the competition," Lawrence said.

Peter Yeates, HSBC vice president for personal and consumer banking said they have completed the consolidation of all the 16 branches of HSBC Savings Bank nationwide.

Yeates admitted that the thrift banks was open to acquiring branch licenses of other banks "if there are opportunities in areas where we feel it would be profitable," he said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has imposed a moratorium on branch expansion since last year saying that the industry was "over-banked." Banks’ planning to expand their branch network, they would have to acquire the branch license of existing branches of their banks wanting to dispose of their branches.

HSBC Saving Bank was a result of HSBC acquisition of PCI Savings Bank more than a year ago. It absorbed all the branches and its work force but the bank needed time to refurbish and relocate among others the branches to suit its requirements and target market.

"Last year was a year of consolidation, relocation and the like. This year, it will be one of growth in terms of customer base," Yeates said. "So that means that our growth this year should be dramatic in volume and value."

Yeates added that the bank has a credit card base of 230,000 for both its commercial and retail accounts. It has a host of retail banking products such as housing loans.

"One of them is the online@hsbc which has features and functions related to bank accounts, credit cards, currency information and the like. We want to make daily bank experience more convenient to the bank client," the bank executive added.