The outlets to be closed account for less than 10 percent of HSBC’s retail customer base in India. This strategy was influenced by the fact that retail customers are mostly in urban centres and are affluent with access to digital-banking channels. Still banks in India will need to continue to scale up their branch network because some customers have limited access to electronic banking.
Among HSBC’s foreign competitors in India, Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings is also pursuing a digital strategy in the country. Last month the bank has announced a mobile-banking initiative according to Bloomberg.com. Similarly, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank have been relying on digital banking. Reserve Bank of India data show that SBI, which has launched eight banking applications, accounted for about 38 percent of India’s mobile-banking transactions and ICICI had 18 percent as of December 2015.
HSBC’s origins in India date back to 1853 when the Mercantile Bank of India was established in Mumbai, according to the UK lender’s website. HSBC bought Mercantile Bank in 1959 and now offers products and services to corporate and retail customers. HSBC set up India’s first automated teller machine in 1987, according to the website.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now