An Undifferentiated Pedestrian

Sustained excellence for the stock market is impossible without a clear position in a significant segment. HSBC is adequate as a bank, but its attempts to use multi-cultural sensitivity as a differentiator may not get and hold new customers in droves. There is no evidence, in any case, that the External Marketing effort is backed by internal processes, and during customer interaction.

Global banking matters for companies which depend on exports, and for international business travelers. Many financial organizations and peer banks offer comprehensive services for such transactions, and HSBC can claim no special advantage in this respect. Cultural sensitivity matters to some extent in small enterprise development, but this is not a focus area for the bank. Much of modern banking has moved away from personal interaction to ATMs and the Internet; the position which HSBC seeks to take will decrease in relevance with time.

Repositioning is always possible, though it is a traumatic and expensive exercise. HSBC could well be involved in some M&A activity, since it does have some strength in the Far East which others may lack. The positioning equation will change if HSBC merges with a competitor in any case. However, there are no concrete indications that such a move is on the cards, so HSBC has to be rated on its present and direct value: it is difficult to recommend investment for any stock market operator with limited funds.

HSBC has more than 9 thousand branches spread across the globe. It is headquartered in London. The bank has a comprehensive presence on the Internet, and expects this form of transactions to grow rapidly in future. Shares are traded in London, Paris, New York, Bermuda, and Hong Kong. Constituents of the bank have been in business since 1865. The bank serves companies, individuals, and the wealthy. It offers products for insurance and for Senior Citizens as well. More than 200 thousand entities and individuals own HSBC, though New York trading is in the form of Advance Depository Receipts. The bank is large, full-service, profitable, but perhaps without a strong channel to the future.

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