The oldest personal loan lender in the country, HSBC has opted to slow down its retail and credit card divisions as it plans to concentrate more on global banking, investment banking, wealth management, insurance and mortgages.
Naina Lal Kidwai, HSBC India Group GM and Country Head said, “We will not chase retail customers till we turnaround our loss-making retail lending and credit cards businesses. We hope to do so by the end of the year”.
The bank has lately taken over the retail banking division of Royal Bank of Scotland.
Kidwai said, “HSBC won’t go after customers to sell our retail banking or credit card products as that will impact the quality of our services, besides increasing our risk portfolio”.
On the subject if the bank intends to quit from credit card division, Kidwai said, “There is no such plan, but we will not be running after customers to sell a credit card or a personal loan. There is no plan whatsoever to discontinue this business, as we’ve a customer base of 1.5 million even today.”
Asked why this go-slow method, she said, “Our rapid expansion in the past has led to the growth of some riskier assets and we don’t want to grow that way. In fact, we have been going slow on retail banking since the past four years or so, and by the end of 2010, we will have more good numbers to share on this front.”