HSBC Is Going Beyond Banking to Become a Trusted Partner to Its Customers

Trust is important when it comes to banking – and those brands which are able to establish themselves most effectively as a trusted partner in the lives of their customers are the ones which will keep people coming through branch doors in an increasingly digitized industry.

It’s small wonder therefore, according to a survey conducted by Statista among more than 59 thousand consumers across 28 nations worldwide, trust was the most valued aspect of banking and drove decisions regarding which brand to do business with.

This, of course, is of little surprise. The financial concerns of customers are some of the most sensitive and private there are – people are more willing to discuss their health with friends than money issues – and they need to be confident the institutions they trust with them are worthy of the task.

Trust

We know that customers need their banks to be trusted partners in their lives. Why then, are banks failing to meet this need in substantial portions of the population?

A big part of the answer comes from the global financial crisis. Millennials and the older cohort of GenZ have grown up in the shadow of the worst peacetime recession in history and the widely held perception is that banking institutions, as a result of packing bonds with high-risk subprime mortgages, carry a sizable portion of the responsibility – compounded by the fact that government bailouts and a lack of criminal convictions has left the impression that the industry suffered few consequences as a result.

These aren’t easy things to hear, of course, and most of us would never dream of engaging in any of the practices which led to such catastrophic consequences, but we must face the reality of public perception. The industry will never lose the stigma of those years by sweeping things under the carpet.

However, this is only part of the picture and, now that the global financial crisis is behind us, banking brands need to work to establish themselves as trusted partners of their customers – harking back to the days when the local bank branch manager would be a pillar of the community, on hand to help with all the financial challenges life can throw at us.

HSBC

To try and meet this challenge, global financial brand, HSBC has been working to build an ecosystem which goes beyond traditional banking interactions such as visiting the local branch to make deposits or telephoning a call center for support.

Appropriately dubbed, Beyond Banking, the new initiative seeks provide entrepreneurs and SME customers with all the usual financial support one would expect from a bank of HSBC’s caliber, but to augment those services by equipping those customers with all the knowledge and tools they will need to succeed in their lives and enterprises.

"Beyond Banking is an HSBC initiative to bring an ecosystem of value-added services together, with the sole objective of supporting startups, small and medium-sized enterprises to scale, automate, and save cost," said Head of Transaction Banking and Business Banking at HSBC, Anuj Kanwar. "Think of it as an integrated banking experience that brings you everything you need to conveniently manage your business, from accounting and cloud computing solutions to shipping, logistics, and more."

With the Beyond Banking initiative, SME owners can create bespoke systems which solve the specific challenges of their business. For example, they can save time, effort, and money by leveraging cloud computing systems to simplify digital concerns such as data management, security, IoT, and more. Another option would be to take advantage of HSBC’s integration with Zoho Books which, among dozens of features, makes bulk vendor payments, simplifies bank reconciliation, monitors bank balances in real time, and helps entrepreneurs stay GST compliant.

Essentially, Beyond Banking builds a trusting partnership with those customers looking to branch out into the world of business by simplifying and streamlining business processes to help them get up and running as quickly and easily as possible – making everything they could need to get started available from the word go.

"We are living in a time where a digital ecosystem and collaborative partnerships are essential for any business to thrive," said HSBC. "At HSBC, we constantly strive to simplify banking for our clients and offer the best of services. As a part of our ‘Beyond Banking’ initiative, we will be bringing to you innovative collaborations, with the objective of enhancing your banking experience with us."

Final Thoughts

Establishing ourselves as trusted partners of our customers needs to be a top priority in 2022. We can’t change the mistakes of the past, but we can ensure that we provide our customers with the best possible services for the future and help them to succeed in every aspect of their lives.

Building Strong Relationships: Becoming Your Customer’s Trusted Partner is set to be a keynote topic at Future Branches Boston 2022, taking place in July at Westin Copley Place, Boston, MA.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.