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Despite the recent announce-ment at HSBC that they are to cut 30,000 jobs globally, their aspect for the Middle East is more positive and they see Qatar as a market where they can flourish and grow. The banking giant has a 57-year history here and is working diligently to provide for its market's evolving needs.

The recently appointed Head of Re-tail Banking and Wealth Management (RBWM) in the Middle East & North Af-rica HSBC, Francesca McDonagh, spoke with comforting tones about their strategy here.

“The Middle East is a strategic focus for us, and within the region, Qatar is a very important country and market for us. I am very focused on our premium segments in Qatar – that’s our Premier and Advanced segments – and also the development of more wealth, services and propositions for our customers. I’m very confident about the future for Qatar as a country and for our support of the business,” she said.

“We have a 57-year heritage here, which I feel is impressive. We have a high recom-mendation level amongst our customers and towards our banking products and

services. In this market, we are unmatched in terms of global connectivity. We’re able to offer our customers with interna-tional needs unrivalled services for their personal banking.”

Job CutsHSBC made a pragmatic gesture when they announced they were shedding 30,000 jobs between now and 2013 in regions where they weren’t being competitive. Whilst they did announce very favourable first half figures (pre-tax profits of $11.5

billion, up from $11.1 billion a year ago and better than the expected $10.8 billion), they are intent on restructuring to stay competitive and cite emerging markets as their means.“What’s being confirmed in the press is a strategic exit from certain markets,” said McDonagh. We have to make cost efficient and smart decisions wherever we work in the world, our new CEO [Stuart Gulliver] is being clear about this. We need to make sure we are investing and growing where it makes sense. I think if you’re smart and

Confident of growth

HSBC HAvE BEEN A mAjOr plAyEr iN QATAr fOr OvEr HAlf A CENTury, BuT HAvE CiTEd BEiNg uNCOmpETiTivE iN SOmE mArKETS AS A rEASON TO SHEd jOBS glOBAlly. Will THiS HAvE AN impACT ON THEir fOCuS HErE? rOry COEN fiNdS OuT.

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focused you can grow a business signifi-cantly without it necessarily correlating to the headcount in that country. My fo-cus here is on the front line, so there’s an opportunity to invest, train and develop the front line staff that we have, to ensure the solutions we offer are well aligned with our customers and their personal f inancial needs.

“I think we have to be very prudent in recruitment, we need to make sure its sus-tainable recruitment, where we have to look at our resourcing, we have to look at where we can make sustainable decisions, to make sure our front line staff have the capacity to sell and to serve, and to meet customers’ needs, but we also have to look at efficiency in any market we are in, not a message for Qatar necessarily, but for the ME. We need to be careful about how we drive our efficiency and be smart at how we manage our costs.”

Strategy in Middle EastMcDonagh intimates that HSBC will be focusing their attention primarily on their premium segments, which she feels are ultra-competitive and give their mar-ket here exactly what they want. They are trying to leverage in Qatar what has been successful regionally and globally, which are their premier and advanced segments, and investment solutions such as Asset Management funds.

“Our premier proposition is incredibly strong. I feel our ability to offer – whether its global view or global transfer – that connectivity for our premier customers is

incredibly competitive and it’s something our customers with international needs appreciate. For a customer who has an ac-count with us and has an account abroad, they are able to see all their accounts in one shot, which is ‘global view’. And also the ability to instantly move their funds between those accounts, and see it in-stantly reflected in Online Banking. It’s incredibly attractive and convenient, rec-ognising the international perspective of many of the customers here.

“The advanced strategic segment is very strong in what we can offer in terms of products and services. Our focus is there, but it doesn’t mean it’s an exclusive focus; we have customers which aren’t premier or advanced, that we have relationships with and want to grow, who we offer credit

cards and other lending products to.”“I also see opportunities to offer more

wealth solutions to our customers here,” she continues. “So the offering of the Worlds Selection funds, which are mutual funds that reflect global best practice in asset management, are very enticing. I am a customer of this myself and I have found that it has been very a successful product.

“Those are some of the aspects that set us apart from the competition. We don’t have the largest branch network in Qatar, but I don’t think we necessarily need to have, I don’t think we need to be on every corner to service our premium customers as we wish

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HSBC rETAil BANKiNg ANd WEAlTH mANAgEmENT

SBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management (RBWM) was estab-lished in March 2011, bringing together the HSBC’s Personal Finan-cial Services, Insurance and Asset Management businesses under a unified management structure. Through HSBC Premier and HSBC Advanced, RBWM’s aim is to provide retail banking and wealth man-

agement services to customers in selected markets. For the first half of 2011, RBWM: generated a profit before tax of QR11,483 million ($3,126 million). had total customer deposits of QR1,972 billion ($542 billion) as at June 30, 2011. had total net loans and advances to customers of QR1460 billion ($401 billion) as at

June 30, 2011. HSBC Global Asset Management had funds under management of QR1,634

billion ($449 billion) as at June 30, 2011, of which emerging markets funds under management were QR491 billion ($135 billion).

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“WE NEEd TO mAKE SurE WE ArE iNvESTiNg ANd grOWiNg WHErE iT mAKES SENSE. i THiNK if yOu’rE

SmArT ANd fOCuSEd yOu CAN grOW A BuSiNESS SigNifi-CANTly WiTHOuT iT NECESSArily COrrElATiNg TO THE

HEAdCOuNT iN THAT COuNTry”

Francesca McDonagh,

Head of retail banking and wealtH management (rbwm) in tHe middle east, Hsbc