Every morning, Eddie Wang feels refreshed when he arrives at his office building in Pudong's Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone - HSBC Tower, built last year at a cost of US$33 million.

"Isn't it wonderful to start work?" the chief executive of HSBC China business says.

"I firmly believe that we made a wise and timely decision when we relocated our China headquarters from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to Shanghai last May," Wang told the Shanghai Star in his office on the 36th floor of the building.

From his office, there is a perfect view of the thriving Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, the financial heart of Shanghai.

"The significance of the move," he explains, "is that we can feel the momentum first hand, which is important. One has to be here to get a good feel for what is going on."

Reviewing the rapid growth and expansion that HSBC has achieved in Shanghai and China since last May, Wang says the bank showed very good timing.

"It would be too late if we made the relocation now," he said.

With its headquarters in Shanghai, HSBC is now closer to its Chinese customers and well positioned to take advantage of post-WTO liberalization of the banking sector, Wang says.

HSBC now has the largest presence among foreign banks in the Chinese mainland and has been awarded the distinction of "best foreign bank in China" by various finance magazines several times.

Historical links

To Wang, the relocation is more than a strategic business decision to show HSBC's long and deep commitment to China.

He prefers to describe the move as a kind of "homecoming," as the bank started doing business in Shanghai in 1865; and also because his father's family is originally from Shanghai.

"Having been working and living here for over a year, I have taken Shanghai as my home," says Wang, who has 28 years of experience with HSBC and has been responsible for the bank's Chinese business for seven years. Before that, he held a variety of senior positions in the bank, including a three-year posting to HSBC in Canada.

Speaking fluent Mandarin and some Shanghai dialect, he also wants his staff - both local and non-local - to feel that Shanghai is home from home.

"The staff should make every effort to enjoy working and living in the environment," he says.

Modern management

The offices in HSBC Tower house 250 staff and are laid out to reflect the modern management approach Wang wants to bring to his team. The open set-up of his office demonstrates a strategy different from the traditional arrangement, in which the chief executive would sit in an isolated eagles' nest. His close proximity to colleagues streamlines communications and instills a sense of transparency that is essential to the success of the team.

Since HSBC China's international staff are living away from home, Wang thinks it is extremely important that the staff make Shanghai their home by socializing within the environment.

"Really, our staff should live, eat and work in a more Shanghai way. I really want our foreign members of staff to be part of the environment," he says.

He remains conscious of the need to instill a certain service ethic in his staff, so that when the market opens, they will have the experience to deal with foreign and local retail customers, which is HSBC's target group.

"One of the most challenging parts of this job is to make sure that the software is in line with our group standard. By software, I'm referring to standards of service," he explained.

Dispensing charity

Sitting on the advisory board of the bank's charity foundation and being a board member of China Charity Foundation, his definition of service is not confined to financial services alone.

HSBC's business writing course is free for anyone to download on the Internet.

Its regular contribution to the China Charity Foundation is another clear sign to customers and competitors alike that the bank is a responsible corporate citizen.

The bank donated 1.6 million yuan (US$192,800) in 2000 alone to a programme dedicated to getting unemployed people back to work in Shanghai. So far, the annual programme has helped 52 per cent of the trainees find jobs after receiving training courses provided by HSBC.

The bank is a sponsor for an annual charity concert for disabled children in Beijing.

Wang also encourages his staff to work as volunteers with local charitable institutions.

"By doing so, they can obtain a sense of responsibility and recognize that they are members of the society as well as of our bank," Wang says.

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