Clients and staff come first for HSBC

HSBC Insurance is the market leader in terms of market share in the MPF market, and is also among the top three life insurance players in regards to new business market share. HSBC is a global and universal bank serving customers worldwide with over 6,100 offices in 72 countries and territories.

Being a leader requires focus and a strategy that comes from the perspective of its customers. “We measure our success by how well we meet our clients' needs.” As Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Insurance, Hong Kong, Candy Yuen expresses, “We strive to do the right thing for our customers and thanks to the support and commitment of our staff, HSBC continues to excel in Hong Kong.”

A customer-centric focus
The company focuses on a customer-centric strategy and need-based model to drive their actions and decisions. HSBC Insurance has been investing in studying customer behaviours, preferences and trends for a number of years. Since 2005, HSBC has been publishing an annual Future of Retirement report globally and a few years ago, another research program was developed as well, namely, The Value of Education Study. Using a combination of customer insight from surveys with clients and feedback gathered by frontline staff they are able to develop and enhance their propositions to meet customers' needs.

As a result, the Goal Access Universal Life Plan and Income Goal Insurance Plan launched within the last 12 months have been very well-received as these were done with customers in the front of mind. In December 2015, HSBC also launched HSBC Retirement Monitor, which estimates the monthly expenditures needed for different types of retirement lifestyles and serves as a tool that can help Hong Kong people forecast their spending during retirement.

As Yuen reiterates, “Our staff are united by a singular purpose to connect our customers to opportunities, enabling them to thrive and economies to prosper. In essence, we are helping people to fulfil their ambitions.”HSBC Insurance looks for the right type of employees to join the organisation and help the company grow. Besides the basic necessary skill set, they look for those who share similar values to that of HSBC. The goal is for staff to feel empowered to contribute their very best and help to achieve the best outcomes for their customers and the company. To ensure that they achieve this goal, they've put great emphasis on values and committing to applying the highest standards everywhere they do business. For example, Yuen explains, “We have the highest standards in regards to fighting financial crime, compliance and ensuring we know our customers well. We emphasize on teamwork and collaboration a lot, we are supportive and truly embrace diversity in an inclusive environment.”

Pearl Delta River opportunities
The Pearl River Delta (PRD) is an important strategic priority and as Hong Kong becomes more connected to Mainland China, HSBC Insurance, like the rest of the world, are looking to the region for opportunities. The region has a population of about 57 million and forms one of China's most populated areas. Hong Kong clearly plays a very critical role, as it has the right infrastructure, work force and technology to support the growth aspiration in the PRD and to help better serve clients there. The per capita GDP in the PRD is now roughly twice the national average of China and is forecast to double by 2030 to around US$36,000. By comparison, Hong Kong's per capita GDP at the moment is about US$38,000 and HSBC is uniquely positioned to capitalise on the growth opportunities and capture the emerging wealth of the region.

With such an intense client focus and positioned in the next global growth story, building a strong human capital balance sheet becomes increasingly important. As Yuen clearly states, “People are definitely our most valuable asset. It's our employees that make our strategy actually happen.”

HSBC requires their staff to always be at their best, based on the common values of being open, dependable and connected. The company has taken the initiative to launch a series of staff recognition programs. The belief is that when they acknowledge positive behaviour it is more likely to be repeated and recognised by everyone, and inspire staff to work together for a common cause.

A part of the community
HSBC also wants to be the best in the communities their staff work and live in. HSBC internally has a Wayfoong Volunteer Group, which has been running since 1993. This year the Bank has been ranked first in Climate Change Research by Thompson Reuters. Insurance as part of the group has also played a part in community contribution as well. Their corporate sustainability volunteers have formed their own program called “SWITCH” and recently they also successfully rolled out a “Let Us Shine” and “Hello Central” campaign; programs to help secondary students to practise English along with HSBC's NGO partners such as Hong Kong Family Welfare and Conservatory Association Centre of Heritage. In short HSBC supports their staff to serve customers and the community. Not only do they provide avenues for their employees to engage with the community, but each and every employee can enjoy two days of voluntary leave a year, where in essence – the company sponsors them to do volunteer work during office hours.

Digital opportunities
Investing in the future is a common theme, not only in HSBC's community outreach but also in how they service their customers in the future. As Yuen is excited to explain, “We are looking forward to continuing to build a customer-centric, digitally enabled organisation in Hong Kong, to help our clients identify and fulfil their needs, to help them realise their most important goals and ambitions in life – what we call internally the five core wealth needs – protection, education, retirement, wealth accumulation and legacy planning.”

HSBC is putting a lot of emphasis on embracing digital to make it easier and faster for clients to do business with them and to perform transactions with the device of their choice. For HSBC Insurance, they are also looking at how they can use the digital platform to enhance the customer experience, allowing them to conduct their business and manage the way they choose to interact with the bank.

As Yuen summarises, “We're very honoured to receive the HK Business High Flyers Award for 2015 and would like to express my sincere thanks to our customers and employees for their support. Without them we won't be able to achieve what we do. We are fully committed to continue to better serve our clients and enhance our customer experience.”