Noel Quinn

Bangladesh's export and import can thrive on entrepreneurship and workforce skills the country has developed over the years, said Noel Quinn, a top official of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).

Many in the world now see Bangladesh as a successful manufacturing base and are willing to shift here from China, he said.

Growing intra-regional trade in Asia driven by a jump in consumption by rising middleclass and Asia's increased trade with Africa and Latin America have created windows of opportunities for the local entrepreneurs, he said.

Quinn, group general manager and regional head of commercial banking, Asia Pacific of HSBC, was in Dhaka on an official visit late last month. He met entrepreneurs and visited the bank's projects to get an idea about the country's business. This was his second visit to Bangladesh.

He along with Andrew Tilke, the bank's country head, and Mahbubur Rahman, head of commercial banking in Bangladesh, was interviewed by The Daily Star at its office.

“The quality of works produced in Bangladesh is comparable to any market in the world,” said Quinn who oversees HSBC's commercial banking in 17 countries in the Asia and Pacific region.

Apart from high entrepreneurship spirit and quality, he hailed Bangladesh's hardworking population, especially the young ones.

“These young and hardworking individuals have to take up the challenge,” he said.

HSBC, which has been facilitating international trade for more than 140 years in many countries, now considers Bangladesh as one of its top markets.

HSBC opened its first branch in Bangladesh in 1996. Now the bank handles 9 percent of the country's international trade that was worth around $60 billion in 2011-12. Presently HSBC has 13 branches and it is the only bank that has presence in Bangladesh's all seven export processing zones.

Commercial banking is a traditional strength of HSBC. In Bangladesh, it is a popular choice for customers because of the bank's international presence and a wide range of financial services and products.

“As a place for commercial banking, we designate Bangladesh as one of the top 20 markets,” said Quinn.

The bank's business here is comparable with that in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, he said.

Despite all the potential, the HSBC official said Bangladesh has two specific challenges -- power and transportation -- which, if solved, can take the country to a higher growth path.

To him, the issues are more serious for the foreign investors than the locals. Stable supply of power and transportation of goods in a reliable manner are vital for foreign companies, he said.

“Speeder distribution of goods requires continuous development here,” he said.

Quinn also talked on a broad spectrum of issues that include the Eurozone crisis, changing consumption pattern in China and India, Asia's economic outlook and the bank's business strategies.

He said though the financial crisis in the Eurozone dealt a blow to Bangladesh's exports to Europe, it has created opportunities as well.

The HSBC official said the export market in Latin America has expanded and trade flow between Asia and Latin America has increased significantly. Some countries and companies are benefiting from the crisis in the EU.

“If you are a quality organisation, you can benefit,” he said.

Quinn said the growing consumption pattern in India and China has also offset the impact of the Eurozone crisis. In China, 50 million people will graduate to the middle-class in five years, he said.

Despite the global economic slowdown, the HSBC official has high hope on Asia, which according to him, will be the world's growth engine.

“Yes, there will be a slowdown in growth, but Asia as a whole will be the growth engine,” he said.

He said trade in Asia-Pacific grew by 27 percent in 2011. The growth rate is several times higher than the average economic growth of the region. There is still room for growth for quality producers in Bangladesh and Asia.

“We still see continuous growth in Bangladesh, primarily on the back of the shift of manufacturing activities from China into the markets like Bangladesh,” said Quinn.

As there are high quality manufacturers in Bangladesh, HSBC is equally investing in commercial banking and extra capital will be allocated for that, he said.

Andrew Tilke also predicted that there would be a lot of trade between the Asian countries in the years to come. So, Bangladesh's export potential in India and China would grow.

On doing international trade with currencies other than the US dollar, Mahbubur Rahman said it depends on how the currency is moving.

“It's about the suppliers' preference,” said Rahman.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 24th June 2012