HSBC cuts ties with direct sales agents

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), the second largest foreign lender in the country in terms of branch network, has severed its ties with direct sales agents (DSAs). The bank, which had 300-400 DSAs, now employs its own staff to source loan borrowers.

The move has led to a deceleration in customer addition, with its client base remaining more or less same at one million. The bank has also discontinued its retail broking and retail depository services in India last year. But the bank remains confident that it will have the opportunity to do more business with its existing customers as it has shifted its focus on offering premium products.

"Premier and advance propositions are key focus areas for us and we have recently re-launched our premier proposition. Given our footprint of 50 branches across 29 locations, it is not possible for us to serve everyone, hence we need to make sure that we pick the right customer segment and service it in the best possible manner," Manish Sinha, head of customer value management at HSBC India, said.

The bank's premier consumers typically maintain an average quarterly balance of Rs 25 lakh, while its advance customers keep a relationship balance of Rs 3 lakh per month.

He added that the lender will be cautious in offering unsecured loan products, and instead will aim to build its mortgage portfolio.

"We are keen to grow our relationship-based lending businesses: Mortgages business as well as unsecured lending. We will grow our unsecured lending book in a calibrated manner using the strong relationships that we have with our customers. We would like to lend to our customers who want to have a long-term relationship with us," Sinha said.

The foreign lender is also trying to increase its woman customers by offering products that are tailor-made for them.

"Some of our peer banks have some good products, such as giving preferential pricing on home loans to women customers. It's a good concept and we would definitely evaluate such products to offer the best bouquet of products to our customers," Sinha said.