LONDON, July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Bank sees a significant increase in the number of business banking  customers trading internationally

A strong performance from HSBC's UK Commercial Banking division during the first half of 2012 has seen the bank significantly increase its support for businesses.

Key Half-Year highlights:

. HSBC provided GBP15.1 billion of gross new lending to UK businesses, an increase of circa 5% (GBP700m) compared to the same period for 2011.

. GBP6.3bn of gross new lending was provided to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), an 8% year on year increase, whilst approving more than 81% of all small business lending applications.

. Commercial customer deposits increased by more than 17% year on year. With UK businesses depositing an additional GBP4.4 billion with HSBC since December 2011.

. The number of companies that decided to switch their business to HSBC in H1 2012 increased by 50% compared to same period last year.

International growth:

. GBP2.7 billion of HSBC's GBP4 billion International SME Fund^[1] has already been made available to UK businesses that trade or aspire to trade internationally - over 30% ahead of plan.

. HSBC continues to expand its International Commercial Manager proposition. The bank has increased by more than 50% its population of International Commercial Managers and has now over 200 experts located throughout its UK network of commercial banking centres, providing dedicated expertise to businesses that are looking to expand in new markets.

Jacques-Emmanuel Blanchet, Deputy Head of HSBC Commercial Banking Europe and Head of Commercial Banking UK, said:

"HSBC is increasing the support it provides to UK businesses, Corporate and SMEs, and our data for the first six months of 2012 highlight this. We are on track to lend much more to UK SMEs in 2012 than we did in 2011 and our GBP4 billion International SME Fund, which we established to support UK businesses that trade or are looking to trade internationally, is well ahead of plan."

Jacques-Emmanuel adds: "We have seen an increase in the number of customers trading internationally and we expect this to continue as UK businesses look to access growing markets around the world. With the amount of international activity carried out by UK companies set to increase by 66% over the next 15 years^[2] we expect demand for a truly international banking partner to increase, and HSBC has the expertise, products and global footprint that businesses need to take advantage of future opportunities across the world."

Notes to Editors:

. HSBC International SME Fund - Launched in February, HSBC's fund will provide at least GBP4billion of lending during 2012 to SMEs with a turnover of up to GBP25million that trade or are looking to trade internationally.

. Source: HSBC Global Connections trade forecast: June 2012

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HSBC Bank plc: HSBC serves 16.1 million customers in the UK and employs approximately 52,000 people.  In the UK, HSBC offers a complete range of personal, premier and private banking services including bank accounts and mortgages. It also provides commercial banking for small to medium businesses and corporate and institutional banking services. HSBC Bank plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc.    

The HSBC Group: HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from around 7,500 offices in over 80 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, North and Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$2,556bn at 31 December 2011, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations.

SOURCE HSBC CMB