Name: Banking on our Future
Uploaded: 2025-05-21
Duration: 15 min 24 s

“Volatility” is the word of the moment when it comes to global financial markets. With over 40 million customers in almost 60 countries and territories, HSBC prides itself on being a global bank. What does that mean against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions and a global trade war? And how is HSBC navigating this complex environment while also keeping an eye on new opportunities for investment and growth? We’ll go behind the scenes of the bank to find out.

Banking on our Future

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Hello. Welcome back, everybody. Um, as we heard earlier this afternoon, volatility is the defining word to describe the current global financial market. And global banking is at the center of this maelstrom. How are banks responding to the extended period of uncertainty? Where are the opportunities for investment and growth globally? And how are banks advising their clients? HSBC has a 150 year history and operates in just under 60 countries and territories. Lisa McG McKo took the reins as president and chief operating. Officer at HSBC US this past January, just when things were getting very, very interesting before that she was the co-head of global banking, so she has a fascinating and truly international perspective. Lisa joins us now to share her views on the market and the bank's outlook for future growth in the MIA region and in the rest of the world. She's going to be interviewed by Fortune's Dianne Brady. Please welcome them. You know, uh, Lisa, welcome. Thank you for joining us. And, and as Mahal was saying, you've been in the job 5 months and what a 5 months it's been. It's don't waste a good crisis. I mean, I think my most favorite leadership roles are ones that I've been leading through transformational change and market volatility. Well, let's talk about those leadership roles because it takes you from, I call it the liar's poker days of Solomon Brothers in the 1980s, sort of giddy through you were in London post-Brexit. You were at Wells Fargo post financial crisis. So you have been lived through how many different, have you ever counted the number? A significant financial. How does the current landscape compare to what you've seen in the past? So I think what's interesting and what I find is always important to control the controllables. So I can't control public policy or trade wars or what's going on geopolitically, but I can control how I engage with clients and my team, you know, think, think client centric, be agile, be over communicating. And be as nimble as you can with your products and services as change happens. Well, you're an interesting role in the US right now for a global bank, and especially there's been this US Saudi corridor that we've seen it's been reinforced in the past week. How important is this market to you? It is probably one of the top markets and the most exciting markets to me and to us in the US, and what's great about now we're here one week after President Trump was here, and so the $600 billion and potentially up to $1.2 trillion of trade and transactions in between the two countries, it's. It's amazing. I will say we have been in this region though for 130 years, so we have a 160 year old history as a bank, 150 years in the United States. So we're no stranger to geopolitical challenge, trade tariffs, everything else, but I'd say the US Saudi corridor is terribly exciting for us for a number of reasons. One, And the transition away from, you know, if you think about the vision 2030, the transition away from a pure energy economy, GDP here is growing double digits, right? Non-oil GDP is growing double digits. If you think about the growth sectors, technology, AI specifically, potentially energy transition. Um, health care, leisure and travel, um, all kinds of sectors that are important to companies in the US and we bank 90% of the Fortune 100 companies in the US and we bank them from the innovation stage all the way up to global multinationals. They are investing in Saudi also if you think about um institutional investors and I think last last week. We had something like 12 billion of commitments from our biggest asset managers in the United States into Saudi. Well, let's unpack that a little because, OK, you have not been in this region for 130 years, but you've been in the business for 3 decades, and what, what was the pivot point for institutional investors? I mean, it's easy to say, oh, vision 2030, but What have you seen that has made them more interested in here, and I hope you don't mind if I do a deeper dive here we can skate across the whole planet in a minute, but I'm very curious as to what. So I think our institutional investors, and I love a quote by one of the largest in on the globe, and he said if this was a stock, if the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was an equity. I would be all in, um, and it has all of the elements that investors look for. So it's policy stability, political stability, energy, security, and self-sufficiency. And supply chain, you know, efficient supply chain, a strong and talented and highly skilled labor force, all of the critical elements that you look for in a region to invest. So it's that way for the institutional investor clients. It's also for the corporate clients. That are doing business here as they think about again double digit non-oil GDP growth, it's very difficult to find that in the world and the US Saudi corridor is one. Now I want to separate the kingdom from the region writ large. I wouldn't say stability is the word that comes to mind right now. So how is that impacting things? So I think you know there will always be geopolitical instability. There will always be. Unrest. I hope there's not always going to be war. We all want peace, so I think that's that's a priority. I think the difficult thing is again controlling the controllables. What, what can I control in Saudi we're very clear and 100% aligned between our governments and what we're looking for in our populations to grow and prosper. So I think that's really important. Yes, there is political stability and instability around and in the region. But I think going back my 35 years, I don't remember when there maybe wasn't political instability in some part of the world. So I think it's it, yes, there is that, but we have to work work around it and navigate through it. And we talk a lot about perceptions of Saudi Arabia. You are the US head of. Yes, let's talk about perceptions of the US for a second. What are you seeing in terms of investor interest there? Is it waning? Is it changing? Obviously there's been seismic shifts. Yes, yes, I think, look, it's a $26 trillion economy, so it's a quarter of the world's GDP. And we have a deep and successful capital market. So if you're going to raise debt or equity, this is a great, the United States is a great place to be. It has a growing population. It has a significant investor base. It has for our institutional investors. 85% of them are headquartered in the United States, so I think the attributes are are important and critical. I think you know for the companies that are based there, it's a large stable market to invest from. Um, the other important points, the inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, these were all important parts of the legislation that has brought investment in. And now with President Trump leading his initiatives and encouraging that investment like he did in Saudi last week and in Qatar in the UAE, and that will long continue, but I think those the direct negotiation on some of these. is extremely encouraging. So I talked to CEOs right after the inauguration. They were optimistic and then there was trepidation. Now maybe there's a bit of optimism again. How are you, Madam CEO, feeling about the market? So I think as a CEO you always have to be optimistic because it's difficult to do anything else. But look, I think that the tariff impact has been significant, and it was. A bit of a jolt from April 2nd on. If you think about where the world's number one trade bank, there were 80 blank sailings, and I'll explain that in the month of April. So a blank sailing is canceled shipments and the peak of COVID in 2020 there were 50. So that is telling you that some of our clients, corporates might have been stockpiling before. April 2nd and then maybe are in a little bit of a wait and see mode now. So respecting and understanding the clients that are that are waiting and seeing and how we can support them through trade pay or other other products and services, I think is really, really critical. So again, how can we be helpful to clients? I am feeling much more optimistic through the pause with China last week since last week. Oh, every day is different. Every day is different. Uh, I am feeling more optimistic to pause with China, you know, you go from 145% tariffs back to where we are, but the tricky, the tricky bit is even if we're looking at 10% baseline tariffs in the United States, most of our importing companies. Have a hard time processing that. How do you determine the country of origin? How do you, how do you orient towards this? The larger companies might have an easier time. Some of the smaller and mid-sized companies might have a more difficult time. So I think we've hosted over 1000 webinars for clients. Yes, how many of them are about tariffs and how many? Well, they're about trade and tariffs, yeah, so as the number one trade bank we have to. Have, um, you know, constantly giving advice and updating our, our thoughts. I think the thing that might worry me and again feels, feels better, recently, I think the thing that might worry me if US GDP growth has a negative implication on a global growth forecast. I think we're looking at 2.3% down from 2.7%. But if you tip into recessionary territory for the US, that's that's a tricky to come. Let me ask you, I'd be remiss not to talk a little bit about the rest of the world because you said this is one of your top markets. What are some of the others that you're really doubling down? So we're excited again. We're in just less than 60. Countries, so than others. Yes, it's like my children, you know, I can't. There aren't too many favorites, but I do think, you know, China and Southeast Asia as well. I think we feel we still feel very optimistic about the growth there. I would say India 6.5% GDP growth, a billion plus population. A digital India made in India, so still feel exceptionally and the UK again I was there I am. I went right after Brexit, you know, this feels a little bit familiar in some ways, but I'm encouraged by Keir Starmer and the Labor government, some of the some of the trade deals that he's working recently with Europe also. US, US UK corridor really important. US Saudi, US UAE, US India, and then Southeast Asia. We were founded in Hong Kong, so that will always be, you know, an important market for us. But again, anytime there's a crisis, there's also an opportunity. So countries where it might be more challenged, we find ways to support our clients. And their growth in other parts of the world. I know we only have 3 minutes left, but I'd be remiss not to talk a little bit about you as a leader having first of all, did you ever play liar's poker? I don't know if you know liar's poker. It's this book that came out in the 80s where it was Michael Lewis throwing money down and like did you do that? I wasn't allowed to play that game as a woman. Yeah, no, so I wasn't allowed to play liar's poker on the trading floor, but or you know, be a traitor. There are certain jobs that women couldn't have back then. But I was allowed to be a salesperson, so I think back then you learned to sink or swim, frankly, and there were people cycling through pretty, pretty often. When you're in the markets business, you have to think quickly on your feet. You have to be agile. You have to communicate in a very robust way. And then you start the clock at 0 almost every day when you're on a trading floor, you start at 0 every day. So um so I learned a lot from that. Um, my, my personal business chemistry is driver. I don't love long meetings or long PowerPoints or things like that, but I'm always trying to think about a minute and seconds. So it's just how can I, how can I advance this topic or decision faster and in a quicker, you know, more agile way while managing the risk appropriately? I think I've learned a lot from other CEOs, some good, some not so good. I have a walk around leadership style. I like to be empathetic. I like to check in on people and see how they're doing. Um, you know, again, constantly communicating, I think those are things that female leaders do very differently, you know, over communicate, think about the person and their career and how you can be supportive of them, have their back in times of stress in particular, being mindful of change and the impact that that can have on colleagues, but also that resilience, that resilience is really important, you know. I have 3 kids. I helped raise them, put them through university. Off to off to jobs, that is, you know, it takes a certain amount of determination and commitment, and you can't wake up one day and say, you know what, I just don't feel like doing this today. So I think it's how can I advance my team or my agenda or my company every single day. Now we have time for but a haiku, but for this audience, especially when people are new to leadership roles, what advice do you have to people when they're they're new. To a role and they are in fact it's new to even see them or a woman in the role. I think it's so being a CEO can be lonely at times, so you have to sort of surround yourself with a board of advisers who can who can be helpful to you. I think it's being extremely strategic about the role you want. I think it's tactical, you know, we go through life doing the things. How do you get promoted? How do you Get to the next, but when you want to be a CEO, the things that are required to do that the board of advisers, the marketing speech, the consultation, the deep discussions that you have to have, strategic discussions to advance to that, that's different, and I think it's important we all know that. Excellent. Well, I consider myself high potential still so good luck. Thank you so much. Thanks so much. Please join me in thanking.