(6 August 2010−Australia) HSBC is set to take on the small to medium enterprise banking space in Australia as it announces a new business banking strategy.The bank has said that the strategy, which will be rolled out from August, will primarily focus on Australia’s internationally-oriented SMEs.
The bank will provide transaction banking services and a range of international products including foreign exchange, trade finance as well as payments and cash management.
Paulo Maia, HSBC’s chief executive of Australia, said that the new strategy represents a major push by HSBC into the Australian SME banking market.
The SME market is already a key focus for HSBC globally. With three million business banking customers in 64 markets, HSBC is one of the largest international SME banks in the world, Mr Maia added.
Now the bank has the opportunity to bring HSBC’s global business banking expertise to SMEs in Australia, Mr Maia noted.
Head of commercial banking for Australia, Noel McNamara said that HSBC Business will compete with local banks for the business of SMEs with international businesses or cross-border needs.
The bank is endeavouring to tap into the 14 percent of Australian SMEs that export and in particular 19 percent of Australian SME exporters are exporting to ASEAN countries and with 14 percent of them are trading with China.
As the leading international bank in the Asia, HSBC is perfectly placed to help these SMEs with their international banking needs, Mr McNamara said.