LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings has created a $5 billion global
working capital fund for small and medium-sized businesses to help them weather
the credit crisis, the bank said on Sunday.
One billion pounds ($1.47 billion) of the fund has been earmarked for
customers in the United Kingdom, HSBC, Europe\'s biggest bank, added in a
statement. Businesses in Hong Kong would also be targeted in the first phase of
operations.
The effects of the credit crisis mean that many businesses are finding
funding hard to come by and relatively expensive despite cuts by central banks
in benchmark lending rates.
\"I am pleased that HSBC is using its financial strength to help our small
business customers around the world by delivering this new $5 billion fund,\"
HSBC Group CEO Michael Geoghegan said in a statement.
\"SMEs (small and medium-sized businesses) are the lifeblood of most
economies and it is their success that will create economic growth.\"
The HSBC statement also quoted British Finance Minister Alistair Darling
as saying \"This is a very welcome step to help small businesses in the UK.\"
The fund will be allocated on a case-by-case basis using HSBC\'s normal
lending criteria, the bank said. The fund is new money above what HSBC would
normally expect to lend in the current business environment and will be funded
from the bank\'s own resources, it added.
($1=.6816 Pounds) Keywords: HSBC
(keith.weir@thomsonreuters.com; 44 20 7542 7918; Reuters Messaging:
keith.weir.reuters.com@reuters.net )
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