HSBC
HSBC continues to shake up the local banking scene in Mauritius, most recently establishing a wholly owned, locally incorporated subsidiary HSBC Bank (Mauritius).
For the 2005 financial year, HSBC reported a 28% rise in profits to $43m, with assets rising 16.6% to $3.6bn. With an injection of new capital to support anticipated asset growth, the bank’s RoE suffered but was still very respectable at 35.1%.
The biggest development has been the establishment of the local subsidiary to offer existing clients better access to HSBC’s vast international network and to provide new clients with a broader range of services emanating from Mauritius’ extensive range of international double taxation treaties. Through the new subsidiary, HSBC is able to offer customers several more sophisticated financial structures, particularly in the areas of structured lending and structured trade finance.
HSBC Mauritius also leads in innovation, recently launching Mauritian rupee currency options.
“HSBC has identified the huge potential of using Mauritius as a platform for expanding international cross-border banking activity, including trade flow between Asia and Africa. This has helped us achieve solid growth in earnings over the past year and annual compound growth in profitability of more than 50% over the past four years, more than any of our major competitors,” says CEO Phillip Dawe.
