HSBC 2010 Annual Report Download - page 45

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Overview Operating & Financial Review Governance Financial Statements Shareholder Information
ranked as the best cash management bank in
2010 by Euromoney.
• In line with our strategy to be the leading
international business bank, we continued to
pursue opportunities to expand our customer
base of businesses that trade and invest
internationally. In 2010, we opened CMB’s
first corporate branch in Switzerland to enable
our Swiss-based customers to access our
international banking services, particularly in
faster growing markets. In the UK, we recruited
139 new International Commercial Managers to
support the international expansion plans of UK
businesses.
• Our geographical presence across both
developed and emerging markets allowed us to
capitalise on the rising levels of international
trade flows, notably in Asia and Europe, where
we gained export market share in 2010. In
the Middle East, we increased our lending
to exporters in the region by 69%. In the United
Arab Emirates (‘UAE’) specifically, our average
lending to exporters more than doubled in 2010
to US$700m.
• The number of successful cross-border referrals
increased by 77% compared with 2009, with
a total transaction value in 2010 of almost
US$15bn. Significantly, successful intra-Asia
referrals doubled from 2009, while referrals
from mainland China more than doubled
reflecting the increased appetite of Chinese
business to explore international opportunities.
• CMB continued to demonstrate connectivity
with other customer groups within HSBC. Our
partnership with GB&M allowed us to support
our customers in accessing capital markets to
help them grow and expand internationally.
Successful referrals from CMB represented 51%
of total net new money generated from internal
referrals to GPB in 2010, while 5% of new
Premier accounts were referred from CMB.
• CMB has a diverse suite of products to support
businesses that trade internationally. We are the
second largest export factor globally and, in
2010, we launched our Receivables Finance
proposition in Germany, Europe’s largest
economy, which has rapidly growing export
ties with Asia. In the UK, we increased
international trade finance by 13%. In addition,
we successfully piloted the Supplier Invoice
Finance Scheme, a reverse factoring product,
in India, mainland China and Hong Kong.
• We became the first international bank to
provide renminbi-denominated trade settlements
across six continents in 2010 and we are one of
the largest international banks in Hong Kong to
offer renminbi products, with total transactions
exceeding US$6.7bn in 2010.
• Our Business Banking propositions are focused
on better serving SMEs, especially those that
trade internationally. At the end of 2010, we had
over 3.4m customers worldwide in the Business
Banking segment, representing 55% of CMB’s
total deposit balances and providing an
important source of funding for our Corporate
segment.
• We continue to recognise the importance of
SMEs to sustained economic recovery and
provided working capital finance for this sector
throughout 2010. In Hong Kong, we maintained
our active participation in the Government
Special Loan Guarantee Scheme, through which
we provided US$1.5bn in SME financing in
2010. In the UK, we increased new lending to
SMEs by 19% in 2010, opened accounts for
over 125,000 customers starting new businesses
and added over 170 extra local business
managers.
• We continued to develop and improve our direct
channels through enhanced telephone-based
relationship management services in key
markets, including the launch of smartphone
services in Hong Kong. In the UK, we also
launched straight-through foreign exchange
services. Notably, we are now the leading direct
bank in Europe with over one million SME
business customers using our Business Internet
Banking platform.