Cost free money transfer facility by HSBC for NRIs

Mumbai, Apr 10 (UNI) Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has introduced a new chare-free money transfer scheme for its non-resident Indians (NRIs) customers from the United Kingdom(UK).

''This toll-free, local call services provided to the NRIs is aimed to meet their changing needs both at home and abroad,'' said HSBC senior vice president and head of NEI services Manasije Mishra.

Mr Mishra said that the bank has been experiencing significant growth in its NRI business in recent months which grew by over 35 per cent last year (2005-06).

In fact, NRI business accounts for about 30 per cent of the total personal business portfolio of the bank in India and the current remittances from NRIs is about USD 500 million of which 20 per cent is from UK.

HSBC head of personal financial services Nicholas Winsor said that the new charge-free services could be extended to other region such as USA and Gulf where the bank has a large presence.

''We intend to offer specialised services to NRIs to meet their growing needs mainly those growing number going abroad to settle down''he said.

HSBC has about 100,000 NRIs customers in India and the number is growing as the bank started offering various services including mortgage and other services. Today, there are 22 million NRIs around the world including 1.2 million from UK who expect global banking expertise and a high level of services, he said.

''HSBC has 11 NRI centres of which 3 in UK that provide personal financial services including remittances, current accounts and mortagages. In fact, a prospective customer going abraod could open a HSBC account from India at his future overseas destinations. HSBC has 43 branch network located in 22 cities across India,''Mr Winsor said.

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