HSBC HSBC Bank is the largest bank in Hong Kong and second largest group in the world after Citicorp. Before moving it¶s headquartering to London in 1990, it was headquartered in Hong Kong. HSBC India is having branches in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, Pune, Thane, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam. HSBC NRI centres are located in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and North America. HSBC NRI centres provide full range of personal and private banking products in India and overseas. HSBC Internet banking adds to the services of HSBC India abroad. HSBC India, along with HSBC Investment product and HSBC Insurance, it offers international Gold Card and Classic Credit Cards from VISA and MasterCard and debit cards from Visa. HSBC in India gives 24 hour banking services, extensive network of ATMs, integrated Call Centre and also HSBC e-banking. HSBC Bank India Fact File The HSBC Group develops and applies advanced technology to the efficient and convenient delivery of banking and related financial services. HSBC Bank India provides the following: y Self-service banking with over 150 in-branch and off-branch ATMs and 24-hour phone banking. y Trade and corporate banking services with real-time access to a centralized information database y Instantaneous inter-city transactions through online connections between all branches y A state-of-the-art treasury dealing system y A sophisticated card system supporting debit and credit cards, domestic and international VISA, MasterCard, and co-branded cards y A dedicated acquiring system for both MasterCard and Visa transactions y online@hsbc, HSBC internet banking service, provides customers with an integrated and secure platform to access their accounts. y Internet Payment Gateway handles credit card transactions on the internet Naina Lal Kidwai There are many firsts to Naina Lal Kidwai's credit. Naina Lal, CEO of HSBC, is the first Indian woman to graduate from the Harvard Business School. Also, she has the distinction of being the first woman to head the operations of a foreign bank in India. Naina Lal Kidwai has been appointed chairperson of HSBC group companies in India beginning 15 April, London-based HSBC Holdings Plc. announced on Thursday. Kidwai was group general manager and chief executive officer of its Indian banking business, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. Global scale: HSBC¶s group chairperson Naina Lal Kidwai at a press conference in ITC Sonar, Kolkata on Thursday. Indranil Bhoumik / Mint Stuart Davis, chief executive officer of HSBC Bank Australia Ltd, will replace Kidwai as the head of the bank in India. Davis and other chief executive officers of HSBC group companies in India will be reporting to Kidwai, Stephen Green, group chairman of HSBC Holdings, said. HSBC, which has been operating in India for 155 years, is the first foreign bank to appoint a chairperson in India. ³India and China are for us the two most important countries for future growth« Because our business (in India) has become so broad based, we thought it was important to make sure we had appropriate leadership in place in India, a proper management structure that was able to take an overall view of development of all our businesses,´ Green said while announcing Kidwai¶s appointment. ³The scale of business in India is growing fast. We are into 10 different businesses including insurance and asset management. My job will involve broader oversight of multiple entities and representing India to the global shareholders and investors,´ Kidwai said. The bank¶s assets in India are about $20 billion (Rs99,000 crore). It posted $666 million profit before tax for the year ending December, accounting for 7% of the group¶s global profits. Employing 37,000 people across businesses, HSBC group in India accounts for 11% of its global work force. Kidwai does not see any immediate possibility of locally incorporating the bank. ³It¶s too early to decide,´ she said. The Central bank has allowed foreign banks operating in India to remain as branches of global parents or become a subsidiary through local incorporation. The subsidiaries can also look for listing in Indian market. However, no foreign bank has yet taken this route. Foreign banks in India together account for about 7% of banking assets. The central bank is slated to review its ownership policy of banks in the current fiscal that began on 1 April, but foreign banks are unlikely to be allowed a larger role in the wake of the global financial meltdown. Under current norms, foreign banks can take up to 5% stake in a local bank. Asked why HSBC chose to move the head of its bank in Australia to India, Green said, ³We believe in giving our people opportunities to take up leadership roles across geographies. Stuart has worked with the group in the US, Taiwan and Australia.´ Davis, who is expected to reach Mumbai next week, has been heading HSBC¶s bank in Australia since 2002. Kidwai¶s key responsibility in her new role would be to prepare a strategy to integrate the group¶s diverse businesses. ³I think there¶ll be a lot of HR (human resource) elements in my new role. Also, HSBC needs to have one face for its Indian businesses talking to all its stakeholders,´ said Kidwai, who turned 52 on Thursday. Besides banking, HSBC has business interests in insurance, insurance broking, asset management and private equity. It recently acquired local retail brokerage Investmart from Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. Sandy Flockhart, chief executive officer of HSBC Asia-Pacific, said: ³Our enlarged businesses have necessitated the creation of this new position for our Indian operations.´ Below, left: The HSBC History Wall seen from the main entrance of the Group Head Office in London. Centre: Postcard sent in 1903, showing the offices of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Hong Kong. View of Hong Kong waterfront in the 1860s when HSBC opened its doors for business. The banks first office is on the far left. HSBC¶s hexagon symbol is installed at the top of the new Group Head Office at 8 Canada Square, London. HSBC's History The HSBC Group has an international pedigree which is unique. Many of its principal companies opened for business over a century ago and they have a history rich in variety and achievement. Foundation and growth The HSBC Group is named after its founding member, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, which was established in 1865 in Hong Kong and Shanghai to finance the growing trade between China and Europe. The inspiration behind the founding of the Bank was Thomas Sutherland, a Scot who was then working as the Hong Kong Superintendent of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. He realised that there was considerable demand for local banking facilities both in Hong Kong and along the China coast and he helped to establish the Bank in March 1865. Then, as now, the Bank's headquarters were at 1 Queen's Road Central in Hong Kong and a branch was opened one month later in Shanghai. Throughout the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, the Bank established a network of agencies and branches based mainly in China and South East Asia but also with representation in the Indian sub-continent, Japan, Europe and North America. In many of its branches the Bank was the pioneer of modern banking practices. From the outset, trade finance was a strong feature of the Bank's business with bullion, exchange and merchant banking also playing an important part. Additionally, the Bank issued notes in many countries throughout the Far East. During the Second World War the Bank was forced to close many branches and its head office was temporarily moved to London. However, after the war the Bank played a key role in the reconstruction of the Hong Kong economy and began to further diversify the geographical spread of the Bank. The making of the modern HSBC Group The post-war political and economic changes in the world forced the Bank to analyse its strategy for continued growth in the 1950s. The Bank diversified both its business and its geographical spread through acquisitions and alliances. However, it remained committed to its historical markets and played an important part in the reconstruction of Hong Kong where its branch network continued to expand. In 1959 the bank completed two important purchases, those of The British Bank of the Middle East (now HSBC Bank Middle East) and the Mercantile Bank. The British Bank of the Middle East had begun life as the Imperial Bank of Persia in 1889 but throughout the 1940s and 1950s had extended its sphere of operations and pioneered banking in the Gulf states. The history of Mercantile Bank stretched back to 1853 - the year it was founded in Bombay (now Mumbai) - and by the 1950s it had a strong identity within Indian and other Asian markets. In 1965 the Bank purchased a controlling interest in Hang Seng Bank, which had been established in Hong Kong in 1933. By the 1970s the policy of expansion by acquisition of subsidiaries with their own identities and specialisations was firmly in place. During the 1980s the Bank concentrated on moving into those markets where it was not yet fully represented. Hongkong Bank of Canada (now HSBC Bank Canada) was established in 1981 and HongkongBank of Australia (now HSBC Bank Australia Limited) in 1986. In 1987 Marine Midland Bank (now HSBC Bank USA), based in New York State, became a wholly owned member of the Group and its principal subsidiary in the United States.