In a media roundtable held Wednesday morning and attended by Francesca McDonagh - HSBC's Regional Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management for the Middle East and North Africa, Ranjan Sen- Head of Retail Bank and Wealth Managing and Rafee Asem - Head of Performance Retail, HSBC announced the launch of the first mobile banking service in Egypt. In this regard, Francesca McDonagh highlighted that mobile banking service is a way to show HSBC's appetite for investing in Egypt. The service will allow smart phones users to access their accounts wherever they are. She added that the service will start with balance quarries but over the time it will be upgraded to include many more elements as per the regulations of the Central Bank. Meanwhile, McDonagh confirmed that HSBC has intentions to expand its business in Egypt; adding that 3 new branches have been opened this year and that the bank is looking forward to launching 2 more branches by the end of 2012. Egypt comes on the top of the 20 priority markets in which the bank operates, she said, noting that HSBC is committed to grow its business in Egypt. Furthermore, Rajan Sen pointed out that the bank is willing to offer mortgage services in the Egyptian market seeking the Central Bank's approvals. He added that the large population in Egypt, in addition to the persistently growing housing needs stimulate the bank to explore this field.
As part of HSBC's expansion plan, the bank will work on improving the infrastructure of the existing branches and relocating some branches to better dynamic areas. HSBC will also offer its staff an opportunity to attend a training in the UAE as part of the bank's development plan. Concerned with exceeding its customers' expectations, HSBC provides a consultancy service entitled "financial planning" designed for offering solutions and better guidance for the customers. The bank also emphasized its continuous eagerness to launch new services that would meet the needs of its customers. In this respect, McDonagh highlighted the bank's tendency to offer future discount campaigns after the success of the "Buy the Egyptian products" campaign that took place in 2011.
