MILAN, July 17 (Reuters) - British bank HSBC islaunching a new commercial division in Italy to lure mid-sizedcompanies that export abroad as cash-strapped domestic lendersgive up market share.
By introducing its new division, HSBC is lowering the barfor access to its financial and markets services, which arecurrently only offered to Italy's largest corporations.
The bank also appears to be turning a blind eye to the factthat Italy is struggling to emerge from its longest recession in70 years amid record corporate loan default rates.
"Right now HSBC sees an opportunity at the level of the realeconomy. We want to intercept mid-sized Italian companies thatmake the bulk of their revenues abroad," Marzio Perrelli, CEO ofHSBC Italy, told Reuters in an interview.
"Italian macro data are not encouraging but they are notthat terrible. Italy remains Europe's fourth-largest economy andthe world's ninth-largest in terms of trade."
While HSBC plans to expand, some foreign banks areretreating. Barclays, which opened a retail network inItaly before the financial crisis, said in May it was parkingits Italian retail banking operations in a bad bank, a signal itcould sell the business.
HSBC established a presence in Italy in 1995 and has beenactive in investment banking, corporate finance and otherfinancial services. It does not have a retail presence in Italy.
HSBC is one of Italy's top three specialist banks that tradein Italian government bonds and is also the biggest financialpartner to SACE, the state-backed company that providesinsurance and financing for Italian firms doing business abroad.
It is also one of the few bank that offers services inrenminbi, the official currency of China.
"We are in pole position to help those Italian companiesthat want do business with China," Perrelli said. (Reporting by Lisa Jucca)
Barclays (BARC)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)