Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1493442
9 EDITORIAL BusinessToday is published every Thursday. The newspaper is a MediaToday publication and is distributed to all leading stationers, business and financial institutions and banks. MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EDITOR: PAUL COCKS BusinessToday, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016, Malta Newsroom email: bt@mediatoday.com.mt Advertising: afarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Telephone: 00356 21 382741 H SBC Malta's profit before tax of €57.3 million in 2022 represents an increase of 113% over the pre- vious year. When delivering the results earlier this week, the bank attributed this performance to rising interest rates, favourable market movements that positively impacted insurance reve- nues, higher trading income, contin- ued good progress on cost manage- ment and a significant recovery on a commercial non-performing loan. e bank has recommended a gross final dividend of 5.61 cents per share. A deeper look at the results shows that net loans and advances to custom- ers decreased by €21.6 million in 2022, while customer deposits increased by 6% to €5.9 billion. is leaves the bank in a strong liquidity position. e bank declared it remains committed to a safe growth strategy focussed on three strategic pillars: growth, customers and people. e good results come against a background of branch closures and sustained efforts to push customers towards digital platforms. e bank said that throughout 2022 it continued with its investment in digital services with the launch of new cards and upgrades to the card fraud management system. But for all its claimed investment in digital services, HSBC remains a laggard when compared to other commercial banks in Malta and other digital payment services. Contactless cards for non-premium customers were only introduced last year and it took time for them to be activated. Moreover, the changeover process was anything but smooth with customers being left financially strand- ed for a couple of days. HSBC cards still cannot be used on the Apple Pay system, something which should be standard fare in an increasingly mobile world. e bank also fumbled the upgrade to its new secure features some weeks ago when it sent out a poorly-worded SMS that panicked customers into accessing the online system at one go and causing it to crash. But a more clamorous 'mistake' was made last week when the bank dou- bled the loan down payment require- ment for house loans. e inexplicable change caused backlash and even prompted the Prime Minister to urge people to shop around for alternatives. e bank eventually did a u-turn and reverted back to a down payment re- quirement of 10% with the CEO saying this was a genuine mistake. We can never know whether it was a genuine mistake or not but the incident simply highlighted HSBC's problems with at least two of its three strategic pillars – customers and people. One would expect an international bank like HSBC to be at the forefront of innovation and customer friend- liness but the experience in Malta suggests nothing of the sort. With the bank shifting its focus to online platforms and digitalisation as it responds to changing customer demands and attitudes, it should not hold back from embracing the full potential of digitalisation. HSBC customers deserve better, especially in a context where the bank has registered higher profits. e banking sector remains a crucial player in the economy and HSBC is an important cog in the Maltese financial and banking eco-system. Expecting it to up its game is not a luxury. Upping the game 23.2.2023