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NETwoRk EffEcT
After a six month internal review, HSBC Luxembourg reveals its four-year strategy exclusively to Delano. Text: Aaron Grunwald — Photo: Olivier Minaire
“It’s very exciting: it’s all about growth,” Nigel Fielding, head of HSBC Luxembourg, says of the bank’s new fouryear strategy. His optimism comes despite HSBC Group’s CEO announcing a multi-billion dollar cost-savings target and the sale of retail businesses in Europe and North America. “Current market conditions are very difficult, we all know that.” However the bank’s Grand Duchy business is not impacted, Fielding stresses. In fact, “the Luxembourg market is going to outpace a number of other markets” and over the coming years Fielding expects to hire “somewhere in the region of 100 people” if all goes according to plan. The bank plans to boost its presence in the fund administration sector. “We’ve been a very significant player, over ten percent marketshare in alternative and special funds, but we haven’t really been a major player in the larger scale retail UCITS space. We absolutely must enter that market in a meaningful way.” HSBC will launch a new transfer agency technology platform in about six months. “We have [a large global] client who’s very, very interested in coming to us as soon as we have that capability in place.” He explains: “It’s really a compelling story because the group is a very, very strong group, and it’s very, very present in the faster growing markets in the world. So there’s a natural gravity. If you’re a fund manager and you’re looking for an administrator, there’s a certain resonance with the HSBC name.” Fielding hopes to triple the bank’s current one percent marketshare in the space, which would mean
niGeL fieLDinG: HSBC Luxembourg will grow in the corporate, funds and wealth sectors
handling about 100 billion US dollars in large scale retail UCITS assets. The bank also plans to move more into the high and ultra high net worth space, meaning clients with at least five million dollars in assets. Luxembourg has a number of investment structures “which really work well at the high end of the market” that HSBC can use to court customers, and not only in its historic Asian and Latin American strongholds. “I think where we’ve been a little shy is in marketing into the EU,” Fielding admits. “If you go back five years or more, quite a lot of that business went into Switzerland. But things have changed in that space and Luxembourg is much better
placed in terms of its EU market passport.” This effort might be hampered by the reported theft of client data, which German prosecutors will allegedly use to investigate suspected tax evaders. The bank has no comment on the matter. ASIAN STRENGTH In the corporate space, the bank will step up efforts in international payments, cash management and treasury service. Fielding is promoting Luxembourg offerings within the company and has already garnered new internal referrals. “Given our network in Asia and our relationships and strength in Asia, that’s really, really exciting for us.”
November 2011 - DeLano - 39