Size isn't everything

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FOCUS: Leung believes that local SMEs remain an untapped market segment.

HSBC's global commercial banking chief Margaret Leung tells Sara Hamdan why the Gulf's small and medium businesses deserve much bigger attention.

Far from the gleaming spires of Sheikh Zayed Road, HSBC's Middle East hub is located in the dusty heart of old Dubai. It is surrounded by hundreds of small businesses, and each winding alley is home to a handful of hopeful concerns.

Yet for Margaret Leung, HBSC's commercial banking global co-head, it is an appropriate setting.

As the world focuses on the crises facing the major financial institutions, Leung and her colleagues are keeping a close watch on the small people - the small and medium enterprises shadowed by the skyscrapers and six-lane highways that have come to shape the local landscape.

"In any country, 90%-plus of their companies by number are SMEs and they hire the most people in the private sector," says Leung, emphasising that local SMEs remain an untapped market segment.

"If you speak to a lot of SMEs you'll see that they are not happy with their banking service, but if we can have a proposition that will suit this large category of customers, actually we could have a leadership position in that globally."

Small and medium enterprises play a large role in generating competition and innovation, and have been gaining attention worldwide over the past five years. The first international SME conference in Dubai took place just three years ago and managed to attract over 350 participants from around the world.

The numbers are growing, and now financiers like Leung are finding creative ways to fill the SME finance gap and answer to the calls of regional SMEs who have more specific needs than what banks are currently willing to offer.

"If you speak to a lot of SMEs you'll see that they are not happy with their banking service, but if we can have a proposition that will suit this large category of customers, actually we could have a leadership position in that globally," asserts Leung.

She explains that unique services are tailored to the needs of SMEs, including special lending packages and customised internet and phone banking to cut down on the time it takes to visit a branch.

HSBC's dedication to the SMEs in the region is evident in the number of service branches cropping up recently, including a new office in Sharjah dedicated to this market segment.

Leung admits that it is relatively easy to attract talent to the company, given the reputation of the international bank and the global network accessible to employees.

This is particularly attractive to fresh graduates joining the international firm, as they are presented with the opportunity to complete a term in any of HSBC's offices around the world for a short-term period. Leung asserts that it is non-monetary factors like these that give HSBC an edge in ultimately retaining and attracting talent.

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