May.24, 2010

HSBC Bank is beefing up its Washington area team, as it seeks to make new inroads into the region's business and upper-income community.

The London-based financial institution said it has hired seven seasoned banking executives, including Kenneth Sparks, the former chief executive of the Federal City Council, a nonprofit leadership group that promotes economic and community development in D.C.

The bank's move comes at a time when the local banking community is beginning to come alive following the near meltdown of the financial markets. A realignment is under way after Capital One bought Chevy Chase Bank, Wells Fargo swallowed Wachovia and PNC moved into the region.

In recent weeks, several banks have announced high-profile hirings as the competition heats up.

"The entire market is quite dynamic right now," said Orville Smith, senior vice president for HSBC's premier services unit in the mid-Atlantic region.

In less than five years since HSBC opened its first branch in the region, it is now the sixth-largest bank in the metropolitan area based on deposits, and it claims to be the largest serving the embassy community. The international-minded bank's accounts shot up after one of Washington's best-known financial institutions, Riggs National Bank, got caught up in a money-laundering scandal that ultimately led to its sale to PNC.

"We've certainly benefited from the Riggs implosion," Smith said.

HSBC currently has 13 branches in the area, with plans to open another in Potomac as it eyes continued expansion.

"We don't seek to play in the mass market. We don't want to have a branch on every corner," Smith said. Rather, the bank is focusing on a globetrotting clientele that just happens to live or work in an area HSBC considers an "an international crossroads."

To that end, the bank has staffed its branches with people who can speak multiple languages, be it Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Hindi or English, depending on the "flavor" of the surrounding community, Smith said.

"We're able to serve people in their mother tongue," he said.

HSBC is feeling bullish about its prospects as one of the few big banks not to take any government loans during the credit crisis. The latest hirings are aimed at helping HSBC expand its business in the upper end of the market, generally clients who maintain $100,000 in combined personal deposit and investment balances.

Sparks, for instance, will focus on business development, strategic planning and marketing.

Carter Waddell, who was general manager of SunTrust's international division, is focusing on the legal sector and lawyers.

Robert Klingensmith, a former private banker at Wachovia who co-founded an investment advisory practice, is focusing on people with high net worth and their families.

Ann Conger, a former client manager for high-net-worth individuals at Bank of America, will target health-care companies and professionals.

Amanda Gu, an associate director for UBS Wealth Management in London; Shane Moore, a former financial adviser with Cary Street Partners; and Loren Glaser, who worked for John Hancock Financial Services in Boston, round out the new hires.