The FINANCIAL — HSBC Bank Georgia has changed its strategy: retail is not the bank’s focus any more. HSBC private clients are being asked to close their accounts in 60 days. The Bank will serve corporate customers only from now on. Guy Lewis, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer talked with Tako Khelaia, The FINANCIAL, about the new strategies of the bank. Mr. Lewis says there are very slow but positive signs of improvement on the local financial market.
“We have been taking strategic reviews of our approaches in Georgia. As a result of that review, we’ve decided to restructure the business so we took the decision to accept the mass market’s personal financial services earlier.
We are going to focus all of our resources in terms of human resources and financial resources. We plan to become an exclusive commercial bank. HSBC for example has done commercial banking in Spain and Georgia is where we believe we can deliver the best return for our shareholders and do corporate banking for our customers.
We are going to focus on the corporately commercial sector. Most of our customers have international needs. We are an international bank and we have considerably global coverage. We are a bank represented in 85 countries.”
Q. Why has the management at HSBC changed?
A. The previous General Director was also an international manager. We normally stay at a job post from 2 to 3 years and then we go to work in other countries. As we are a global bank we have global resources in need.
We did have a change in the Chief Financial Officer and that was an expected and planned change, and a usual part of the international plan. We do not plan to make any changes in top management at the moment.
Q. For the last 2 years, have the shareholders of HSBC Georgia changed? Who are the shareholders of HSBC Georgia at the moment?
A. No there had been no changes in shareholders of HSBC Georgia since it was set up. At present 70% is owned by HSBC and 30% by Wings Establishment.
Q. HSBC is known as a conservative bank which is very careful in giving out risky loans. Taking in addition the situation in Georgia what can you say about the years 2009-2010 in terms of business crediting and giving out consumer loans?
A. We are a very conservative bank. We operate with quite a wide customer base. It’s really on the international trade side where we have our strength. It’s were we are positioning ourselves.
We don’t see the need to operate specifically in construction development. We are very careful when choosing the strategy, it depends on lending propositions.
Q. Lately some of the banks in Georgia have become very active. Some of them are even calling the competitor bank’s consumers in order to offer better service and banking conditions. What is the strategy of your bank in this regard and what advantages does your bank have?
A. Let me tell you that we have been running down our personal financial services. HSBC Georgia is going to remain and keep its consumers. We will extend our banking service in commercial sights.
We are a global bank, well known, people are aware of our high quality and service and are sure of our stability. In the future we plan to serve our customers with as high quality service as we did in the past.
Q. Have service tariffs and percents on banking products changed from the year 2008 and if so, how?
A. In terms of service we are getting optimal accounts. We will be a VIP bank for the commercial customers. We will offer such services to our commercial clients that no other banks in Georgia can come close to.
As we are a very conservative bank we remain the safest bank. As we are a very safe bank we have very conservative balance sheets and we have not lost any money.
We will offer 6-7% for 12 month on deposits in USD, when our competitor banks offer 14 percent. The percents weren’t changed significantly and as we are a global bank customers should have faith in us.
Q. Financial market leaders are divided in two groups, optimists and pessimists. How would you evaluate the situation in the country?
A. As we are working here in Georgia, we have information existing on the local market. At the moment we are receiving more interest in borrowing money, there is no huge increase in demand but we are seeing a slow increase.
There are very slow but positive signs on the local market. I am not saying that recovery has not arrived but I may say that the situation looks better than 2-3 month ago.
Q. EBRD and IFC have recently raised their shares in Georgian banks, in your view how does this fact affect the local market?
A. I think that having international means shareholders as partners is very important. The banks’ self confidence will improve. Generally the fact that EBRD and IFC have raised their shares in Georgian banks is quite good.
Q. Did you consider closing HSBC Bank Georgia after the August war?
A. We have not ever considered closing HSBC Bank Georgia. We have made some of our staff redundant in the process of turning into a commercial bank, but haven’t ever thought about closing the Bank.
Although Georgia is not used to commercial banks, we are ready to help our clients. HSBC is here in Georgia and will serve its customers with high quality service.
Written By Tako Khelaia
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