HSBC Bank Malta has renewed its Gold Partner Support Agreement with the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.

The agreement extends collaboration on projects benefiting the business community for another year. HSBC Malta has supported the Malta Chamber in establishing and operating an internationalisation desk, an initiative which has delivered significant results during the past two years.

“HSBC Malta will continue to support the Malta Chamber in this endeavour as well as those Maltese businesses doing business overseas. HSBC Commercial Banking has operations in 70 countries and markets with a customer base of 3.2 million business customers ranging from newly created start-ups to large corporates. We have 7,500 relationship managers around the world ready to serve these customers and new business,” Michel Cordina, HSBC Malta’s deputy head of commercial banking, said.

While the main focus of the internationalisation desk is to assist and encourage local entrepreneurs to expand their business abroad, the desk supports the commercial business community in identifying and developing opportunities of the EU single market and of other overseas markets. It also supports them as they respond to the changes they are experiencing including increasing competitive pressures and increasing operating costs.

The internationalisation desk draws on the resources of other national stakeholders, namely Malta Enterprise, Finance Malta and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The desk embarked on a member profiling exercise to map out the international orientation and aspirations of local companies. This research served as a register of which companies, belonging to what sectors and targeting which countries, would require what support to expand business overseas.

As a direct result of HSBC’s support, a detailed business plan was prepared by the Malta Chamber and submitted to Malta Enterprise with a view to create a national effort related to franchising. This project has taken off and is producing the desired results in assisting entrepreneurs to franchise their own concepts and develop a foreign franchise abroad.

Chamber president Helga Ellul stressed how the 2011 Budget Speech singled out its efforts in the franchising field. The Finance Minister accepted the Chamber proposals to allocate funds in next year’s Budget to facilitate the franchising of Maltese products and services abroad, and to grant a reduction of 150 per cent in taxes to those who invest to improve the quality of the product of the service they provide, thus improving their prospects of success abroad.

Armed with market intelligence, the Malta Chamber’s internationalisation desk ensures that its services are demand-driven. It uses its internal database to consult Malta Enterprise on new projects relevant to business as well as on the formulation on the plan for outgoing missions.