Hsbc Plans 2nd Processing Centre

Going beyond banking, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd is opening yet another global processing centre in India, in addition to a software unit. The bank already has a global processing centre in Hyderabad and intends to set up another centre in Bangalore. It proposes to set up its software centre in Pune.

Once the Bangalore unit is set up, India and China will share equal importance in HSBC's global scheme of things, with each country hosting two processing centres.

The bank plans to increase the number of employees in Hyderabad from 1,100 to 1,800 by the middle of next year. At the Bangalore centre, it intends to employ 600 people, while the Pune software centre will employ 300.

The total investment in both Bangalore and Pune could be in the region of $15 to $20 million. "We are investing in human capital," said Sir John Bond, group chairman, HSBC Holdings Plc. He was addressing a press conference after the global board of the bank met in Mumbai. This is the first ever HSBC global board meeting in India in the bank's 150-year existence in this country.

David Eldon, chairman, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and director, HSBC Holdings Plc, said: "India is a very important market and the bank is working hard to increase its presence (here). We recently opened three branches and got four more licences (to open branches). The range of products will also increase." The emphasis will be on retail operations like credit cards. HSBC recently made forays into the auto loan and mortgage financing businesses in India.

Eldon said the bank would also keep its eyes open to grow through acquisitions, whenever the opportunities arose. "We don't have a shopping list. We will always look for opportunities if it adds to shareholders' value. The takeover has to be sensible, non-dilutive," he pointed out.

The HSBC board met Reserve Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan yesterday. However, it is not known whether the bank discussed the issue of taking over any Indian bank with the regulator.

HSBC, which has been on an expansion mode, has already received the Securities and Exchange Board of India's permission to launch a mutual fund. The asset management company will be launched in the first quarter of next year.

However, it does not have any plan to enter the insurance business at the moment. "As the foreign stakeholding in insurance is now capped at 26 per cent, we would prefer to learn more about the insurance market through the agency route. Once the norm changes and we are allowed to pick up a higher than 50 per cent stake, we will look at it," HSBC India operations chief Zarir C Cama said.

Cama said the bank had no plan to "rightsize" in India. The bank will rather look into the possibility of hiring skilled people who have lost jobs following the closure of some of the global equity research firms in India, Cama said.

HSBC has no immediate plans to cut more jobs across Asia, despite a murky outlook, the company chairman said. "Throughout Asia the short-term outlook is not encouraging. But we have kept ourselves lean and so we have no intention to rightsize or downsize now," Eldon said. He added: "But that does not guarantee we will not do something later."