HSBC insurance schemes to increase

HSBC insurance schemes are set to increase, with the global bank to target increased sales of insurance as well as pensions.

At present, only 11 per cent of the bank's 110 million customers across the globe buy HSBC insurance from the bank, compared with about 20 per cent of customers at banks with more of an established record in insurance sales.

HSBC is therefore targeting greater numbers of its customers, in a bid to increase the profile of HSBC insurance.

"This is no brave new world for HSBC but it may be one we have not fully explored in the past," Tony Hope, head of HSBC insurance, told a news conference.

The bank, currently the third largest in the world, made around ten per cent of its profit from insurance in 2004.