A journey to 150 years

HSBC Philippines is clearly excited about celebrating its nearly 150-year presence in the country.

Last Wednesday, it kicked off its 150th anniversary celebration more than a year ahead with a cocktail party at Central Square in Bonifacio Global Center, right smack in the center of the dynamic and vibrant Bonifacio High Street, with a 30-seconder electronic billboard feature at the iconic One Bonifacio Global City.

Attended by the international bank’s partners that included Philippine Airlines, Visa, Mastercard and SSI, to name a few,  the event showcased an animation highlighting HSBC Philippines continuously unfolding global opportunities from 1875 until today.

Pumping up the guests and crowd during the evening celebration was well-renowned Filipino singer and songwriter Ogie Alcasid, whose electric performance drew quite a crowd, further adding to the celebratory mood. HSBC’s executives from its legal and human resources gamely participated in Alcasid’s rousing performance that had him pouring buckets of sweat in the outdoor performance, wearing a black Prada jacket.

A very useful giveaway that night was a large Spanish fan commemorating HSBC’s 150 years in the Philippines.

HSBC Philippines opened its doors on Nov. 29,1875 in Binondo and it has since remained steadfast in fulfilling its purpose of bridging customers to opportunities across the globe.

In his speech, HSBC Philippines president and chief executive officer Sandeep Uppal pointed out that in the bank’s early years, it helped financed the sugar trade, as well as the expansion of the Manila-Dagupan Railway, allowing traders to connect with businesses in Luzon and overseas.

Since then, HSBC has continued to provide the Philippines access to global investment and trade opportunities, enabling businesses and individuals to grow and prosper.

“The journey to our 150th anniversary has begun. Well supported by our long history, going back to 1875 and continued strong trust by our customers, we remain committed to connecting the Philippines to the world and playing our part in nation building,” Uppal remarked.

In an interview, Uppal further highlighted that HSBC’s continuing presence in the country is “a good testimony of confidence in the market.”

“We are one of the few international banks that is very much focused on Asia. We are unique from a perspective that we are very much focused on Asia.”

According to Uppal, HSBC, within Asia, has clearly established Hong Kong as its home market and is very active in larger economies such as China and India, and in both markets, it is the largest international bank.

Beyond that, however, the HSBC chief said, “one area of keen interest to us is ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). We see Singapore as the hub, and three key markets ...coined VIP - Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines.”

However, he pointed out, “We do see the Philippines as a core and rising star of ASEAN, and from an HSBC perspective, we see growth in all three segments, not just corporate bank or institutional banking, but also the retail banking ...we have a lot of interest in all three segments so we have been here for 150 years, we have done well, and we will continue to grow.”

The core attractiveness of the Philippines, Uppal cited, boils down to three Gs.

“First is your growing economy which you take for granted, but which most other countries are envious of.” He pointed out that the regional growth of six percent “means the size of the economy and opportunity only grows bigger.”

Second, he said, is a growing of population. “As you can see globally and in a lot of other markets, there is a lot of concern about aging and declining population, but a growing population is a big plus for the Philippines with your median age of 25...research shows it is even younger than some of the markets like Vietnam, Indonesia and India as well.”

The third factor, Uppal continued, is growing liberalization. “We do see a lot of effort being made by the (Marcos) administration in opening up the economy and getting more trade and investment flows.”

Thus, the areas of opportunities for the country would be in consumption led-sectors, infrastructure, the information technology and business process outsourcing sector, and sustainable financing for the renewable sector.

The HSBC executive sees a similarity between the Philippines and India which he views as two key markets in Asia that are consumption-led.

“If you look at the Philippines, you will see similarity with India, they are two key markets that are consumption-led, stressing that “... anything linked with consumption is a great sector for growth...it can be food, any kind of consumption, even real estate.”

“Second is in infrastructure... a market like the Philippines, with all the challenges and opportunity are in mobility, more people, goods, data, electricity, water, that’s a huge opportunity...all infrastructure.”

The third, he continued, is in the IT- BPO sector...”a growth industry done really well ... its contribution is quite similar to what OFWs contribute from a value added perspective. It already employs 1.7 million people and is growing. It is a great sector.”

And lastly, Uppal said, is sustainable financing. “Within that one is renewable energy. It is a multi-decade growth story. Second one is electric vehicle... over time move to electric.” At present, though, he admits, the market opportunities are more in the renewable sector as well as more advanced solar and geothermal projects that are quite entrenched.”

The EV market, Uppal acknowledged “takes more time to grow... but in many markets we see an orchestrated growth.”

HSBC’s role in those opportunities would likely be in transaction banking or in helping tap the capital markets.