HELEN Wong spends more than half of her time traveling around China as she steers HSBC's flagship franchise in a strategic market for Europe's biggest bank.
Wong, a Hong Kong native, wears several hats, including HSBC group general manager, president and chief executive officer of HSBC Bank (China) Co Ltd, and executive director of the board of HSBC China. Her mission is less complicated: lead the bank to growth in the world's fastest-growing major economy.
HSBC is really a child of Hong Kong and Shanghai, though it eliminated the geographic color of its origins when it reduced its corporate name to an acronym in 1991. But the tradition of the two cities in which the bank was founded almost 150 years ago has lived on to become the focus of its business future in the 21st century.
Wong took over as chief executive officer of HSBC China, the bank's mainland subsidiary, in 2010. It's a big, diverse market to handle, and she said getting out and about to visit regulators, staff and customers around the country is the best way to keep tabs of what's going on in the bank and to gauge the economic conditions in which it operates.
The bank moved its headquarters to London from Hong Kong in 1993, but its focus has remained squarely on China, where it now operates the biggest network of any overseas bank: 109 outlets in 29 cities, staffed by a team of over 5,000.
In addition, HSBC owns a network of 17 rural bank outlets and another 38 branches under its Hang Seng Bank affiliate.
Earlier this year, the bank joined a slew of western banks to announce job cuts globally. But in China, its ambition is clear and remains unchanged - continue to expand and build on its position as the leading international bank in China.
HSBC has invested more than US$5 billion on the Chinese mainland. Its operations there include a life insurance and a fund management joint venture. HSBC holds 19 percent of Bank of Communications, a 15.6 percent stake in Ping An Insurance (Group) Co and 8 percent in Bank of Shanghai.
The mainland market accounted for 15 percent of HSBC's global pre-tax profit in the first half and 26 percent of its Asia-Pacific earnings. HSBC's organic pre-tax profit soared 171 percent to US$279 million in the first half.
Wong started her banking career 27 years ago, with two decades of it spent at HSBC. She moved from Hong Kong to Shanghai in September 2009, when the global financial crisis was playing out, to be deputy CEO of HSBC China. She was promoted to the top job.
Wong, who has an extremely tight schedule, granted Shanghai Daily an exclusive interview recently in her Shanghai office overlooking Lujiazui, the city's Wall Street.
Her office is filled with sports trophies alongside a giant map of China. She said she first became interested in sports as a student at the University of Hong Kong and still finds physical activities a boon not only to her own well-being but also to the spirit of teamwork within the bank.
Q: HSBC has the broadest network among foreign banks on the mainland. What are your network expansion priorities?
A: The first is to build a network as fast as regulations allow. That's the first and foremost. Then we look at where we can do business according to our strategy. Our strategy is to be the leading international bank in China. We have four groups of customers. The first are the international companies that come to China, wherever they are. The second are state-owned enterprises that are naturally big in certain cities. They have international needs when they seek overseas expansion. The third group is medium- and small-sized companies, which often have a lot of international needs as well. So trade is an important part of our proposition. And, of course, the fourth group is individuals, who are just as important to us.
Source:shanghaidaily