Business

HSBC Holdings PLC plans to relaunch its India private banking business within a year, its India CEO told Reuters on Thursday, after the Asia-focused lender has identified the country as a key strategic market for growth.

HSBC exited the Indian private banking business in 2015 as part of a group strategy. The lucrative but very competitive Indian market has few foreign players in a segment catering to high-net-worth individuals.

The London-headquartered bank is preparing to relaunch the business in India at a time when its increasing its focus on Asia, which is the biggest region in terms of its profit generation with Greater China and India among its main markets.

“We can see the amount of wealth creation in India and the growth in the number of millionaires … so an in-principle decision has been made to re-introduce private banking in India,” Hitendra Dave, CEO, HSBC India said.

“We are running through the process of internal approvals and it may take anywhere from six to 12 months and will include a full suite of private banking products,” he said in an interview.

Currently, HSBC focuses on catering to wealthy Indians from its global hubs in Singapore, London and the Middle East.

Nuno Matos, HSBC global CEO of wealth and personal banking, which includes the private banking business, told Reuters in November last year that the bank was exploring whether to re-enter onshore private banking in India.

HSBC earned just over half of its revenue and about two-thirds of reported pretax profit in 2021 from Asia. It has increased its focus on Asia by moving global executives and ploughing billions of dollars into the lucrative wealth management business.

The bank also aims to as much as quadruple its customer base in India in different business segments over the next three to five years, Dave said, taking advantage of some foreign rivals shrinking their business and growing wealth in the country.

HSBC India’s profit before tax rose 9% to $1.11 billion in 2021 from $1.02 billion in 2020 led by a 42% growth in income from its commercial banking business, which includes medium and small enterprises.

“Over the years the group has invested $4.5 billion into the country. In the last few years we have managed to grow without needing extra capital and that may continue in the foreseeable future also,” said Dave.

The lender last year agreed to buy the mutual fund arm of India’s L&T Finance Holdings for $425 million, and also plans to increase its stake in the insurance joint venture.

“HSBC has identified India as one of its top strategic market and we have a huge potential for organic growth but we may also look at inorganic growth if an opportunity arises,” said the India CEO.

Samir Allen,​ owner of Auckland restaurant Gemmayze Street​ once ejected a customer from his restaurant for screaming at his staff and later found the same woman had written multiple negative reviews of his restaurant.

As a widespread worker shortage in hospitality continued to make things difficult for the industry, a negative review was like kicking a business while it was down, he said.

“It does actually hurt. People think just because they are paying for something they can be rude and abusive.”

Allen is part of a group of Auckland businesses that have launched a campaign to fight back against “spiteful” online negative reviews and personal attacks.

READ MORE: Turning the tables on bad online reviews How to spot fake reviews on travel sites How fake reviews can hurt a business How to turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied customer

The Karangahape Road Business association, and advertising agency Motion Sickness, created a poster campaign that paired negative online reviews with real photos of staff and business owners to poke fun at people who used the internet to attack small businesses.

Allen​ said he hoped the campaign would highlight the anonymous and hurtful impact of negative online reviews.

“It’s spiteful. People at their computer screens don’t see the impact their comments have on the business,” Allen​ said.

“Remember every time you write a negative review you are attacking someone’s business, someone’s livelihood.”

The fact that negative reviews could stay online forever, and be viewed by prospective customers without any context was a big issue for business owners to grapple with in the digital age, Allen said.

Fort Greene bakery co-owner Liam Fox​ said while it was difficult to measure the financial impact of negative reviews, it definitely took a toll on the mental health of people working in the business.

He said that he had instructed his staff not to look at reviews because they were often hurtful, pointless and personal attacks rather than criticism.

“People forget that for a small business owner, the business is like an extension of yourself. It is impossible not to take these things personally,” Fox​ said.

While almost all customers who provided feedback in person were positive, those that wrote online reviews often were “faceless, baseless, online attacks”, he said.

“For a business a negative online review is like a permanent black spot. We feel like we are inviting someone into our home and feeding them. It can be really hard when people forget that.”

Allen​ and Fox​ said the negative and largely untrue reputation of Karangahape Rd as a “dangerous” or “seedy” part of Auckland had led some people to have a bias against businesses in the area.

The Karangahape Road Business Association campaign will run for a month via a series of street posters, digital billboards and social channels.

Association spokesperson Jamey Holloway​ said while negative reviews were a problem for many businesses, K Rd copped a lot of “unhinged negativity” because of its role in Auckland culture.

“For years this street has been known as the Amsterdam of Auckland. It is a place where anyone can come and be themselves. But when something is a focus for people, it is easy to criticise,” Holloway​ said.

The campaign was designed to highlight a key problem for social media, that there is a human face on the other side of the screen when you are anonymously posting online, he said.

“We are trying to have a bit of fun with what is actually a serious problem. If you didn’t laugh, you’d cry.”

Cam and Tania Bowen of AWOL Adventures had to stop two canyoning trips in the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park when their access tracks were closed to prevent  spread of the tree-killing infection.

The Bowens took up to 1500 people a year into the ranges, and hope to resume their Piha tours when a track upgrade is complete, but Cam Bowen does not know when that will be.

“We could survive if that track was open. If they decide to keep it closed, we’re screwed.”

READ MORE: DOC proposes to close 24 tracks to protect kauri Kauri dieback: The battle against the ‘biological bulldozer’ Tāne Mahuta could soon be infected with fatal Kauri dieback Science offers hope in the fight against kauri dieback

Canyoning required specific conditions so shifting locations was not possible. “We can’t go into the Hunuas because they have the same problem.”

More than 100 tracks in the forested areas of the Waitākere​ Ranges are closed to the public, as are 10 higher risk tracks in the Hunua Ranges Regional Park.

Auckland City’s manager regional parks Rachel Kelleher said about 80 operators had concessions for the Waitākere​ park.

The council was working with two concessionaires unable to operate under the current temporary closures to see if they could use alternative tracks or move to new locations.

The Department of Conservation has called for feedback on plans to fully or partially close 34 tracks in the Northland, Bay of Islands, Whangarei, Kauri Coast, Great Barrier, Hauraki, Bay of Plenty and Waikato districts in an effort to stop the further spread of kauri dieback.

Interested parties have until August 10 to make submissions.

DOC said it would know not know how many concessionaires were affected until submissions closed, and any refund of concession fees would be considered on a case by case basis.

The Waitākere​ Experience networking group will survey local businesses to assess the economic impact, but spokesperson Sharon Stewart said most appeared to be affected with tour companies, cafes and accommodation providers all noticing a downturn in trade.

“We’re all still reeling a bit.”

She said lack of communication and assistance from the council and the Auckland tourism and economic development agency ATEED was a concern.

“We still have the most beautiful scenic beaches that are still open, all the non-kauri tracks are open, but everybody has the message that the Waitākeres are closed.”

Waitākere​ Ranges Local Board member Steve Tollestrup​ holds the tourism and economic development portfolio and he described the track closures as  “a natural disaster” that required a speedy remedy.

“I don’t want to see a closure that carries on for years and years, and I don’t think Auckland Council wants to see that either.”

Although parts of Northland’s Waipoua Forest are closed, the track to its largest kauri, Tane Mahuta, remains open and attracts about 200,000 visitors a year.

DOC said any decision to fully close the forest would only be made after consultation with local iwi Te Roroa, but it was confident boardwalks and cleaning stations meant the risk of visitors further spreading Kauri dieback was low.

Northland Inc regional development agency head Paul Davis said the disease was a massive issue because kauri forests were a big attraction for the region’s $1.2 billion a year tourism industry,.

Track closures had major implications, but protecting the trees was paramount. “It must happen regardless, no matter what the economic impact.”

In 2013 the potential cost of kauri dieback to tourism nationally was put at $48m annually and the loss of recreational opportunities for Northland was estimated to be $1 million a year.

Taoho​ Tane, Te Roroa’s general development manager of development, said they did not have an up-dated estimate of the cost if full closure of the Waipoua Forest occurred as has been recommended by some scientists.

However, efforts to preserve healthy kauri for tourism are underway and carry hefty price tags.

The Provincial Growth Fund has agreed to invest $288,000 on exploring the establishment of a dieback-free kauri sanctuary on 46 hectares of Ngāti Rehia land as part of its One Billion Trees programme.

Tane said Te Roroa was also looking at applying for funds to do a feasibility study for a tree top walkway through a stand of healthy kauri on iwi land showing visitors the cultural history of Maori and their connection to the land.

Although no costings for the project had been done and plans were in the very early stages, “you probably wouldn’t get much change out of $5m.”

The founder of a successful New Zealand beauty brand has launched a $20 million fund to help other local entrepreneurs develop their businesses.

Brianne West​ founded Ethique , the world’s first zero-waste beauty product, in 2012 from her kitchen bench .

But she said a lack of ready capital was making it harder for entrepreneurs to get their businesses off the ground.

To help with this, West​ has launched Nous Labs, an organisation that provides investment, and mentoring, for environmentally and socially focused enterprises in their early stages of growth.

READ MORE: More women should be founding startups, but how to begin? What’s a startup and why should you care? Only 20 per cent of high-growth startup businesses have women founders

West said it was critical that more be done to allow startups to reach maturity, or run the risk of missing huge opportunities for the domestic economy.

Data from Stats NZ show startup survival rates declined 45% over the past six years.

But West said it was particularly hard for businesses that aimed to solve a social or environmental issue.

“Only around 5% of social enterprise startups survive through their first decade. Businesses which are mission-driven often face additional barriers in reaching the next stage of their lifecycle and lack the support and infrastructure needed for long term viability,” she said.

The reason social enterprises were even more difficult to get off the ground than a normal business was that it often introduced a new concept to the market which required a higher investment or more significant R&D costs at an early stage, she said.

Nous Labs has launched with $20million to strategically target this group of social enterprise entrepreneurs.

The fund aimed to support very early stage product brands to launch, then to help scale domestic products for international distribution.

The company is currently offering a support package for the early-stage businesses that fit this brief valued at $140,000.

The fund is open to anyone from tertiary students to existing startups, as long as they can identify a social or sustainability problem they are seeking to change and details of how that will be achieved, she said.

West is aware of the difference early support can make when starting a small business. While at university, she entered and won the EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, which accelerated the growth of Ethique, she said.

Ethique now supplies a line of regenerative beauty products to thousands of retailers in over 25 countries.

“Having entered a competition that helped me reach mentors and access support while I was studying at university, I recognise the need to help bring socially focused entrepreneurs through the initial stage of their startup development.”

When Lance Wiggs found he was about to join an all-male panel at a recent High Tech Foundation alumni event he refused to take his seat.

The Punakaiki Fund director and manager did not want to be part of a “manel”, a term used to describe an all male panel, so asked the audience if there was a woman in attendance who would like to join the panel for its discussion about capital raising.

His offer was taken up by Exocule chief operating officer Shona Grundy who said she was happy to volunteer.

The High Tech Foundation had arranged for a woman to be on the panel, but she had to cancel at the last minute.

READ MORE: Taking the digital economy seriously Tech awards speakers have more ‘John’s, Mark’s and Wayne’s’ than women Meet the women breaking up the boys’ club that is the tech sector

Diversity is a long-standing problem in the tech industry, with women making up just 24% of New Zealand’s tech industry, and Māori making up less than 8%.

This is not the first time the High Tech Foundation has had an issue with all male panels.

In 2018 the foundation was pulled up for having just one female speaker out of 16 in total at a series of events .

High Tech Foundation chairperson David Downs says it has learnt from its mistakes and now puts an emphasis on diversity.

“Five or six years ago we weren’t as conscious about this,” Downs says.

The tech sector has been guilty in the past of being male dominated but is now more aware of its diversity challenges, and how to address those, he says.

The alumni event had a number of other panels throughout the day which had more women than men, he says.

“There was just that one particular panel where unfortunately with Covid we had a couple of panellists drop out.”

The Hi-Tech Foundation has a scholarship program and priority for getting more women into tech, and also Māori and Pacific people, he says.

The foundation has noticed that having better representation at events attracts a more diverse audience, he says.

“People get more out of it.”

Grundy says she has experience in capital raising and is comfortable speaking in front of an audience, so didn’t hesitate putting her hand up for the panel.

She also knew Wiggs was right, and the panel needed a woman, she says.

“He did the right thing and I wanted to support that.”

Women can improve their chances of being included on a panel by promoting their “brand” more and believing in themselves, she says.

“Attempt to put yourself out there and have the courage to say things because it’s worth hearing most of the time.”

In the technology sector diversity helps solve problems “better, faster and more creatively”, she says.

Wiggs says Grundy did an “amazing job” and the panel had a great discussion.

A good panel entertains and informs an audience and this is best achieved through diversity of ideas and perspectives, he says.

“You want to have different sounding voices, different ages, different ethnicities, and obviously different genders all helps a lot to create an interesting panel,” Wiggs says.

“You don’t want to have four people who all look and sound the same.”

You also don’t want people who agree with each other on everything, he says.

“That’s boring.”

Wiggs, who is frequently asked to sit on, or facilitate panels, has long held a “no manels” policy and in 2014 blogged about the importance of diversity on panels .

If he does see an all male panel scheduled for an event he might bring it to the attention of the organiser and help them find diversity, he says.

“If you have a bunch of manels it’s a sign the organisers haven’t really done their job.”

Wiggs says he has known about “manels” for a few years and doesn’t particularly like the term.

“It isn’t nice, but it’s a very rapid way to point out the very obvious elephant in the room.”

As well as gender diversity it is also important to include cultural diversity on panels and try to ensure Māori representation, he says.

IT Professionals chief executive Victoria Maclennan says she has spent more than 30 years in the technology sector and found lack of diversity to be a long-standing issue.

“We’ve always had diversity challenges, not only gender diversity, we struggle to embrace and support Māori and Pasifika into our industry.

There are also few people with disabilities in the sector, she says.

“Diversity needs to be tackled beyond gender.”

IT Professionals is a membership based industry body focused on lifting the capability of the industry and career development of those in the industry, and improving gender diversity is at the core of what it is trying to achieve.

It was “fantastic” seeing Wiggs address the gender diversity issue on stage, she says.

“Our industry is littered with situations where there’s only men speaking.”

She has seen many all male panels over the years, but things have improved in the sector recently, she says.

If women are not represented then other women will struggle to see themselves working in the sector, she says.

“You can’t be what you can’t see.”

Young women have a misconception the tech industry is all about writing code, she says.

“I go and speak to girls in schools, and they think digital technology is just smelly boys in a room who are writing code.

“Women don’t realise it’s a really creative industry.”

The image and reputation of the industry needs to change to make it more relevant to people from different backgrounds, she says.