HSBC is opening 50 new retail branches in the U.S. and hiring more than 300 staff as part of the British lender's plan to expand services to regions where it has previously been absent.
Not all of the new HSBC branches will be in wealthy areas, with 40% of the new openings in low or moderate income communities, according to a statement on Monday. As part of the expansion, HSBC also plans to expand its operations in Western New York and has opened a new branch in Cupertino, Calif.
"Retail branches are important and will continue to maintain a prevalent role in acquiring, retaining and serving customers," said Pablo Sanchez, HSBC's head of retail banking and wealth management for North America. "This expansion provides us an opportunity to serve more customers and small businesses in communities across the country."
Last month, Ewen Stevenson, chief financial officer of HSBC, highlighted the U.S. as one of the markets in which the bank faced its "biggest strategic challenge" for returns. Speaking at the time of HSBC's first-quarter results, Stevenson said the bank was hoping to get permission from the U.S. authorities to extract some of its capital from its U.S. business this year.
HSBC employs about 11,000 staff in the U.S. and is the largest foreign bank operating in the country after Toronto-Dominion Bank. The opening of the Cupertino office takes the total number of the lender's branches in the U.S. to 228.
