Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. I'm standing by, of course, with Lisa Miguel, who is the USEO of HSBC as well as the head of Banking. And it is your first interview live since taking the role. You started on the first day of January. Yes, you've been moving very quickly and have you been met with the craziest markets? Could you have expected that this is what you'd be walking into.
Well, thank you so much, Janelli, It's an honor to be here. I'm just absolutely thrilled. So look, this is a fantastic role as CEO for the US. It is a really interesting time to be in the US. The market volatility is challenging for clients we have. We're very proud of our global connectivity, our global network, the product depth that we have, but clients are using this now more than ever to help navigate a very difficult environment.
Yeah, speaking to the environment a little more. The unique view you have is HSBC is big global bank and for the first time in a long time, you're seeing Europe outperform, You're seeing Asia also outperform, and that American exceptionalism story come under question. What does that look like from your view? And is it sustainable.
Yes, it's a great question. So we're helping our clients navigate the tariffs. Tariffs are nothing new. We have one hundred and sixty years of experience, one hundred and fifty years in the United States, so we've navigated tariffs before, I think. And by the way, we're the number one trade bank in the world, did eight hundred and fifty seven billion of trade financing last year, So clients need our insights now more than ever. I think the challenges
in the US, Yes, there's uncertainty policy uncertainty. By the way, there's still two conflicts on in the world, and so leveraging our fifty plus country presence and the expertise that we have and the experience that we have developed over the years helping clients navigate. You know, I don't think that I think clients got a great experience through COVID, as much as that sounds, they have the ability to navigate a very difficult time and adjust their supply chains.
So some of those learnings are actually coming into handy.
Yeah, what does that look like now with that kind of experience in the world of trade, trade finance, does this set of tariff pressures coming from the United States and even reciprocally. Is it jarring to your clients. Is it something that is stopping activity in a way that is going to be difficult to bring back.
Yeah, it's a great question. I think it is difficult to make long term strategic decisions today. Now we're going to know more about the tariffs and what exactly is happening April second, so we're standing by on that. However, trade needs to happen every day and their flows that are important to continue to support. I think clients are hesitating a bit on the long term decisions. However, most of them are fairly diversified in their supply chains, so
they can work really well despite the noise. I think the other thing about the US is that, yes, there might be some weakness in the stock market, Yes GDP might moderate, Yes there may be inflation. But we're also helping clients do business all around the world, and there are growth corridors in areas where we can support what they need to do.
What are those growth corridors, Because back to the question about US investors looking to put money abroad, Yes, how much are they doing so? How much are they coming to you? And said we want to invest our dollars outside of the US terra for no terrifs.
Yes, So it gets to a bit about the importance of the US as a deep capital market with you know, investors that have significant capital to put to work globally, so they are looking to US. I would say there are a couple of exciting corridors that we look at. One is probably India. You know, six and a half percent GDP growth, a billion and a half population, that made an India trend. You know, we have a significant presence in India, so our history there that's been wonderful,
the US to India corridor. The other is the Middle East with UAE and Saudi the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where we've been for one hundred and thirty years. We have six thousand people, we're three times biggest and bigger than the next competitor. And then probably Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Again, these are areas where I think we've got five thousand trade specialists in over fifty countries, so we've got the ability to help clients navigate today.
What about the other way around, how do you talk to your counterparts across HSBC in terms of the interest coming into the United States. Yes, are people putting dollars to work right now on that US exceptionalism story. Are they holding off the way you see the public market investors doing so now?
Yes, so I am. I am seeing still investment commitment in the United States. And we were just with Governor Kathy Hochel and talking through this last week. So there is there are new plants, there are commitments. I think the PIF made a significant commitment to the President. We are still seeing that commitment and you know, the plants
and the investments in infrastructure. If you think about the CHIPSAC, the Inflation Reduction Act, the size and scale of the population we are, what do we do twenty nine trillion of GDP last year, It's a quarter of the global GDP. It's a big consumer market. So you know, the depth, scale and ability to grow your business in the US is really unparalleled. So we're helping on the inbound side
as well as the outbound side. But I also think that you know, helping clients navigate where should they invest where should they build? Are two different things, but we're uniquely qualified to do that.
They're helping clients manage large strategic decisions at a time where HSBC is making massive strategic decisions of its own. Your CEO, George L. Heathery, had taken over back in September. Took over just in January of the US division. He said in February that the company is finalizing a review of the investment banking divisions. You've scaled back in a big way in the United States, So what does your business look like today? Where are you not and where are you going to operate?
It's a great question. First of all, I'm thrilled you know that George is taking these decisions, because when you run a one hundred and sixty year old financial institution, you have to be really clear about where you're deploying your resources. So that'll be capital, talent investments, and you want to invest in technology and AI and continue to grow.
So he's taken some very bold decisions. He's aligned our company into you know, the UK Hub, the Hong Kong Hub, the Corporate and Institutional bank, and international wealth and Premiere Banking. That's fantastic. It's simplified, it's agile, it's more client focused. I think we had an opportunity to do that, and he's moving at pace. So here in the US, the US contributes significantly over five billion last year to Asia in the Middle East through trade immense FX and our
broader markets business as well as financing. So we're a three trillion dollar bank. We are significant, so we can support clients in financing. That'll be deck capital markets and leverage finance. In the global transaction banking, it'll be as I said, the payments business where we processed five hundred trillion last year, we do one hundred and eighty eight trades a second. And then we also have FAX where we're trading at one hundred and thirty currencies as well
as the trade I referred to. So these are really amazing sort of jewel of the crown type of businesses and the ability to help clients navigate. So in the US, that's where we're going to be focused on the global transaction banking and the financing. You know, M and A inequities, we were less competitive, so I think, you know, making sure that where we have strengths is where we focus.
How do you explain the commitment that you have to the existing investment banking businesses because m and A for a lot of other banks had been kind of the core of the operation. But you're making debt capital markets. It seems like the.
Core and leverage finance well, because we have the balance sheet and we have the ability to support clients in our lending multiple lending products, which is highly correlated to the capital markets, and so allowing them to access the debt capital markets wherever they want to issue is really important on the leverage finance side as well. Our financing, our powerhouse, our ability to help clients grow and build
is really unparalleled. So those are our power alleys and can help us on the international side to navigate and help clients navigate as they grow the business.
So if you think about the global scale of HSBC and the transformation that the bank is enduring, where do you say the US is in that transformation story?
So the US is on a fantastic path and we were ahead. I mean, I think we talked about I packed my bags and I was here in a few days to start, and so we're moving it and I haven't seen an organization move this fast in banking. But the US is again, you know, the core of the business we have in a market share perspective. If you think about where HSBC is strongest, we're the number one in market share in every product that we care about, so you know, payments trade effects a couple of markets again,
so that is amazing. The other thing to think about is that we can bank clients from an innovation banking perspective. We have one hundred bankers that are focused on you know, healthcare and technology and you know just venture venture stage companies, like over a thousand of them. And you know that team that we we were able to get from SVB, amazing team run by Dave Sabao who's based in the United States. As those clients grow and build, we can support them as they expand overseas.
Really an amazing transformation story. Lisa miguel Us, CEO of HSBC, we thank you for sharing the story of the transformation of the bank and of course for clients are looking to invest today.