(8 December 2008 – Global) HSBC has announced that it will create a US$5 billion working capital fund to support SMEs in the current credit crisis.HSBC announced the launch of the global working capital fund for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to ensure that they continue to have access to appropriate credit through the current financial and economic crisis.
The fund represents new money, over and above what HSBC would normally expect to lend in the current business environment, and will be funded from HSBC’s own resources.
HSBC said that the fund will supply working capital to help businesses with their cash flow needs and support businesses that trade or aspire to trade internationally.
It is intended to help customers with fundamentally sound businesses weather short-term shocks caused by the downturn. The fund will be allocated on a case-by-case basis using HSBC’s normal lending criteria.
In the announcement, HSBC outlined the first phase of the plan. The bank said that US$2 billion was earmarked for the first phase in the UK and Hong Kong, with other markets to follow.
Michael Geoghegan, HSBC’s chief executive, said that customers are rightly looking to see how banks can help them.
He also said that SMEs are the lifeblood of most economies and it is their success that will create economic growth.