Relaunched HSBC Premier attracts 'significant' customers

Contrary to popular perception, HSBC Premier customers are not all tycoons and magnates but hard-working people making a name for themselves in all fields of business, arts and society, Godfrey Swain, HSBC's head of personal financial services told The Times Business.

Premier, the global group's personal banking proposition, is currently in the throes of a worldwide marketing drive to raise the brand's visibility. The proposition offers a variety of tailor-made products and services to valuable customers falling within specific income or investment brackets.

Customers are typically expected to hold a monthly average of €100,000 in savings or investments with HSBC. There are over three million HSBC Premier clients around the world and a "significant number" in Malta.

As its main advantage is instant international recognition throughout the HSBC network, Premier is particularly suited to individuals who change domicile often, and even to customers who relocate around the world with their families. It is also beneficial to people who require higher levels of personal investment advice.

HSBC, the world's most valuable financial brand, brought Premier to Malta five years ago but gave it a low profile. Mr Swain explains that two years ago, the group decided to reinvent and relaunch Premier to highlight the advantages of bespoke banking aimed at an increasingly discerning and demanding clientele.

There are dedicated Premier centres in 40 countries, although services are available to customers throughout HSBC's branches in 89 countries and territories.

"HSBC recognised that having one brand around the world wasn't enough," Mr Swain recalls. "The group saw a demand for products and services common to all countries. Premier was the first proposition that the group put together to offer a uniform level of service and instant customer recognition even in the most remote corners of the world. Premier customers are not only valued by the bank in their home country - they are valued across the global network."

Mr Swain explains that Premier was conceived as a proposition for high net worth individuals but evolved as HSBC tapped the mass affluent - customers who earn and live well, accumulating wealth and equity over the years. Typically, a Premier customer holds several products with HSBC ranging from deposits, investments, collective investment schemes, to money in bonds.

On joining Premier, customers are immediately assigned a relationship manager who becomes their sole contact and reference person for all banking requirements at home or overseas.

The relationship manager would oversee all the customers' financial activities and contact them periodically with updates and advice, and take care of arrangements in new or extraordinary situations.

Customers taking up a new post abroad are able to arrange to have accounts opened for them in branches closest to their new address - even before they arrive.

If Premier customers are caught in an emergency on holiday, all they have to do is call at any branch or contact the relationship manager in that country. As Premier customers are listed on a common directory, even an HSBC office in the middle of nowhere would immediately know the name of the customers' relationship manager in Malta, contact him or her and within a matter of 48 hours would arrange for emergency cash, or replacement of customers' Mastercard with no questions asked.

"The Premier service offers a certain level of comfort which is impossible to replicate anywhere in the world unless a bank has the type of network that HSBC does," Mr Swain points out. "That is the power of being one unique brand in so many countries to so many customers around the world."

Under a new internet banking offering, customers are able to view all their Premier account balances in one screen shot allowing for updates on their financial situation instantly.

Transfers can be made between any of an account holder's HSBC accounts anywhere in the world at no charge.

There is also a dedicated round-the-clock call centre for Premier customers or queue-jumping facilities for customers calling HSBC call centres with automatic connection to the relationship manager.

For eligible customers, the Premier service is entirely free of charge with no annual fees, and discounts and advantages on many products. Mr Swain says it is a way for the bank to give something back.

"We have a number of customers around the world, even in Malta, who are multi-banked. When customers see that with one bank they can obtain a much higher level of service, they tend to place more of their business with that bank," Mr Swain points out.

"Since the financial meltdown of the last quarter last year, we have numerous customers around the world who invested in equities and bonds, and lost money. We have since gone through a period of intense hand-holding.

"Many customers could easily panic in a time like this and sell out at the wrong moment. Our people are internally and externally monitored, and are expected to offer high levels of advice. The result was that there was not a single customer who complained in the crisis."

Mr Swain says Premier goes beyond wealth. Global research undertaken by the group has shown that Premier customers' main priority is family. Recognising this value, services and products are also extended to Premier card-holders' spouses and children, giving them instant recognition around the world as well.