HSBC 2007 Annual Report Download - page 21

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by 46 per cent. HSBC provided its customers
with an array of products and services, and with
the local stock exchange performing strongly in
2007, fee income from investment products
grew by 144 per cent and securities turnover by
167 per cent.
• Insurance and retirement products were also a
significant driver of growth in Hong Kong.
HSBC launched a number of new products
during the year and became the leading provider
of single-premium life policies.
• As the popularity of internet banking continued
in Hong Kong, the proportion of all transactions
that were conducted outside the branch network
in 2007 was 96 per cent.
• HSBC consolidated its position as the largest
credit card issuer in Hong Kong. Cards in force
rose by 6 per cent to 4.9 million.
Rest of Asia-Pacific
• In April 2007, HSBC was one of four foreign
banks to incorporate in mainland China. This
allowed HSBC to start providing a full range of
retail banking products, including local currency
services to domestic individuals, paving the way
for Personal Financial Services to become an
increasingly important part of HSBC’s business
in mainland China.
• HSBC nearly doubled its branch network in
mainland China during 2007. The new outlets
also included the first ever rural branch opened
by a foreign bank. At the end of the year HSBC
had more than 80 outlets in mainland China.
• During 2007, HSBC announced several
insurance initiatives in India, Vietnam, Taiwan,
mainland China, South Korea and the Middle
East. HSBC agreed to form a joint venture with
two local banks in India, and it entered into an
agreement to acquire almost 50 per cent of Hana
Life in South Korea. HSBC also acquired 10 per
cent of Bao Viet, a leading insurance company
in Vietnam. HSBC launched insurance
operations in Taiwan and an Islamic insurance
business in the Middle East.
• HSBC launched an online savings product in the
United Arab Emirates (‘UAE’) at the end of the
first quarter of 2007. By the end of the year,
almost 10,000 accounts had been opened and
more than US$500 million of deposits placed.
North America
• HSBC continued to address the problems in the
US sub-prime mortgage market by contacting,
throughout 2007, customers facing increased
payments on adjustable-rate mortgages. Since
inception of this programme in 2006, HSBC has
contacted over 41,000 customers and modified
10,300 loans with a value of US$1.6 billion. The
Group reduced the mortgage services portfolio
by US$13.3 billion in 2007, or 27 per cent, to
US$36.2 billion.
• HSBC Insurance launched a US direct channel
at the end of 2006, offering term life insurance
directly to consumers, which increased the
Group’s market share to 7 per cent of annualised
premiums.
• HSBC Direct continued to be an effective
alternative channel for gathering deposits and
reaching new customers, with more than 70 per
cent resident outside New York State. By the
end of the year, HSBC Direct in the US had
attracted US$11.5 billion of deposits. During
2007, two new complementary products were
launched, certificates of deposit and an online
payment account.
• The US retail bank opened 26 branches in 2007,
taking the total to 465, of which 17 per cent are
now outside the bank’s original geographic base.
The new branches helped aid the growth of
Premier in California, Florida and Connecticut.
Latin America
• HSBC continued to integrate HSBC Bank
Panama. Its acquisition in 2006 provided HSBC
with access to a market of 83 million people
across Central America and northern South
America. Investment in re-branding the acquired
branch network has begun.
• A buoyant market, combined with attentive
customer service and an expanded network in
Brazil, helped HSBC gain market share and
scale in core products. For example, credit cards
in force rose by 28 per cent and, in HSBC
Pension Funds, contributions grew by 39 per
cent compared with the market average of
23 per cent, positioning HSBC among the
top six in the market.
• Tu Cuenta, HSBC’s packaged account in
Mexico, continued to be successful with
1.3 million accounts at the end of 2007, a rise
of 29 per cent. Additionally, HSBC increased
its market share of credit cards in Mexico by
3.5 percentage points to 10 per cent.