HSBC disappears from Szczecin

HSBC, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, opened its first and only branch in Szczecin last December to serve retail clients. It employed over a dozen of staff. Soon it will be closed, just like nine other retail banking operations in Poland.

“The Szczecin branch will be operational until 28 October.” – stated the press office of HSBC Bank Polska. “Our employees will assist the clients in closing their bank accounts or in making alternative banking arrangements at another financial institution, but no new contracts will be signed. After that date the branch will be closed”.

The Bank closes its retail banking operations to concentrate on servicing corporate and institutional clients. As it is now, corporate clients will be served by the nearest HSBC Corporate Banking Division located in Poznań. According to the statement of the representative of the bank, there are no plans to open a similar branch for businesses in Szczecin, even though one cannot exclude such a possibility. It is also not known what will happen to the current employees of the branch – the bank consults the Work Council on the matter and the final decision as to the number of redundancies is yet to be announced.

The decision to close the retail business was taken in May during the HSBC's Investor Day in London. It is a consequence of the new strategy of the firm and results form an analysis of the retail banking operations conducted in 39 countries.  The Group has also announced closure of its retail operations in Russia, while certain restructuring steps have already been taken in the New York district in the U.S., in France and in Great Britain.

„Following a strategic review it is clear that the strongest opportunity for HSBC in Poland lies in servicing corporate and institutional clients. That is why we are repositioning HSBC Poland to focus on better serving those clients with international needs," said Alan Jarman, CEO of HSBC Bank Polska S.A.

HSBC has 30 thousand retail clients in Poland (both individuals and micro-enterprises).
ŁP