HSBC flagship gets lion dance luck blessing

This week in Yorkshire, the Sheffield Lion Dance Team blessed the opening of HSBC’s £9m new flagship branch with the ancient ceremony.

“The lion dance is a ritual to scare away evil spirits and get good luck and prosperity for the Chinese new year,” said James Sheun, a member of the team. “Hopefully, the bank will get good business.”

The lion, which represents power, wisdom and good fortune in China, features strongly at the main corporate locations of HSBC, which has statues of the majestic beast outside its head offices in London and Hong Kong.

Did their presence help protect HSBC from the worst of the financial crisis?

“Prudent leadership at the top of the bank definitely did,” said Mark Vines, commercial director for the North East, in an interview at Tuesday night’s launch party.

“We have strong principles and culture within the organisation. We will only lend money if we have money to lend. We always have more credit monies than we have lent out to customers so we are always liquid.

“We have spread our risks well in terms of different geographies. We have managed to make sure we are not overexposed to real estate lending.

“We have not done sexy challenging mergers and acquisitions business for customers.

“We have not done sexy multiples – we have just been cautious and conservative.”

The old colonial bank was established as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1865 with the “sound Scottish banking principles” of its founder, Thomas Sutherland and while HSBC experienced some losses during the financial crisis, it weathered the storm better than many other global banks.

Since the crisis, the group has fought to gain market share from rivals and as part of this effort has invested more than £200m in its branch network.

The Leeds retail and commercial complex, in Park Row, represents the single biggest investment in its estate for five years, said Peter Keenan, head of HSBC’s network of 1,350 branches.

Mr Keenan told the Yorkshire Post: “It’s one of the top 15 locations in the UK so it is absolutely a flagship branch for us.”

He said the investment was important to create an attractive environment for both customers and staff. “The fabric of the building is absolutely key,” he said. “By the end of this year, we will have refurbished 80 per cent of our estate. That underscores our commitment to the UK market.”

Mr Keenan said the UK has a “two-stage economy” and while “there were signs of growth last year, it looks to have stalled”. He added: “Within our business we are cautiously optimistic about what this year is going to bring. I think there is going to be a few bumps along the road.”

In a speech to guests, Jason Trigg, area commercial director, said Leeds is expected to achieve gross domestic product growth ahead of Paris, Milan, Manchester and Birmingham over the next five years.

He said his Leeds and Bradford team grew its lending book by eight per cent last year, against an industry decline of five per cent.

Meanwhile, Mr Vines said demand was still low for borrowing, which he blamed on media reports claiming that banks are not open for business.

“We are keen to see well thought out lending proposals with sound business plans across sectors,” he added. “There are no sectors we don’t like. If it’s a well-managed business, we should be able to support it.”

HSBC is seeing opportunities for investment in East Yorkshire, particularly after the announcement by German engineering giant Siemens that it planned to build a factory for offshore wind turbines, and in South Yorkshire’s manufacturing industries, he added.

“A lot of businesses are starting to think about where they want to be in the next three to five years,” said Mr Vine.

At the other end of the spectrum, the bank is not seeing many business failures. “If you speak to some of the insolvency partners they are not terribly busy at the moment.

“Historically, businesses have tended to fail as we come out of recession. The reason it’s different now is because the base rate is 0.5 per cent. If it was at five per cent we would see level of failures increase.”

roots lie in financing trade

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was established in 1865 to finance the growing trade between Europe, India and China.

A spokeswoman for HSBC said: “The inspiration behind the founding of the bank was Thomas Sutherland, a Scot who was then working for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.

“He realised that there was considerable demand for local banking facilities in Hong Kong and on the China coast and he helped to establish the bank which opened in Hong Kong in March 1865 and in Shanghai a month later.”

It now has 8,000 offices in 88 countries and territories across Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, North, Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa.