Vancouver-based HSBC Bank Canada announced July 17 that it has earmarked $1 billion to loan to small and medium-sized businesses seeking to expand internationally.
New and existing HSBC customers are eligible to apply for loans as long as they have annual revenue between $3 million and $250 million and plan to conduct some business outside Canada.
“This is the first fund of its kind in Canada for HSBC,” HSBC Bank Canada spokesperson Fabrice de Dongo told Business in Vancouver.
HSBC’s February 2013 Global Connections Trade Forecast report revealed that, while the top three markets for Canadian exports are the U.S., the U.K. and China, the fastest-growing corridors of Canada's export growth by 2030 will be Asia and the Middle East.
Exports to the Eurozone and Latin America are projected to grow by at least 10% over the same period.
HSBC Bank Canada is a subsidiary of London-based HSBC Holdings plc, which operates in more than 80 countries and is one of the world’s largest banks.
HSBC Bank Canada is B.C.’s fourth-largest private company as ranked by revenue, according to Business in Vancouver’s list of the largest 100 private companies in B.C. in 2012.
