HSBC Bank Malta plc has extended over €700 million in corporate and household lending this year, and the €100 million SME fund launched by the bank a year ago is still being drawn down, chief executive officer Alan Richards tells The Times Business in an interview.
HSBC acquired Mid-Med Bank just over 10 years ago for the equivalent of €191 million (Lm82 million). Mr Richards said the bank looked at the decade-long unqualified success story with pride.
Malta, he said, was an important market for Europe's largest bank. It was not house style to hold lavish celebrations to mark such occasions. Rather, the milestone anniversary was marked discreetly with the planting of 1,400 trees at Magħtab, one for every employee.
As Malta's largest listed company and the country's second biggest employer, Mr Richards said the bank had brought new products, services and technology to the local market.
"We have certainly seen an increase in competition which is good for everybody," Mr Richards said. "From a shareholders' point of view, the financials stand for themselves; from an employee point of view, we have brought new working practices and created opportunities for people to work elsewhere in the bank internationally; for government, we have invested heavily in the local economy, we are a major tax payer and we have done our bit to ensure that during the most severe economic crisis in living memory the Maltese financial markets have been relatively stable. At heart, we are a community bank."
Mr Richards said HSBC Bank Malta had performed well in the current climate but he warned challenges still lay ahead. He is confident the bank, which has around 10,000 shareholders, will return to previous levels of profitability as economic activity gains momentum.
BRANCH UPGRADES
The chief executive explained that a programme of branch upgrades is in place but customers were increasingly completing route transactions through automated channels, particularly online. Asked whether the bank intended to charge for ATM use eventually, Mr Richards said pricing will play its part but there was no transaction to charge muted at this point.
He did not envisage any significant changes to staff numbers and pointed out that employees were increasingly encouraged to apply for cross-postings overseas. Ten Maltese staff members are currently seconded to major posts across the network.
Mr Richards, who joined HSBC in 1984, has worked across Europe and Asia. Before relocating to Malta, he was deputy chief executive at HSBC Bank Australia. Lucy Weldon, his Hong Kong-born wife, is a career banker and has worked for Chase Manhattan and HSBC Private Banking. The author of a book on international private banking, Ms Weldon also worked in journalism in Malaysia and Hong Kong. The couple have two young children.