HSBC has announced plans to make billions of pounds of extra credit available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the near future.
The major European financier today (21 February) unveiled its new International SME Fund initiative, under which it will permit companies that show an intention to trade overseas to lend a proportion of the £4 billion ($6.3 billion) set aside by the firm for this purpose.
While introducing this scheme, the bank indicated its belief that global trade - particularly in Latin America and Asia - will experience sustained growth over the next few years.
And, with this in mind, HSBC - which has around 7,500 offices worldwide - noted it is eager to provide people with the willingness to conduct transactions overseas with financial backing.
Alan Keir, global head of commercial banking at the lender, commented: "We are ring-fencing a portion of our balance sheet to ensure funding is there at a higher level for those international SMEs that want to trade."
By Tony Aynsley
