HSBC Set to Hold First Meetings With SVB UK Clients This Week

Vinicy Chan and Swetha Gopinath, Bloomberg News

A logo sits on the HSBC Holdings Plc headquarter skyscraper offices in the Canary Wharf business, financial and shopping district in London, U.K., on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. HSBC has appeased investors with $3.5 billion of share buybacks, but after five years of declining revenue analysts are looking for evidence the bank is stabilizing its top line when it reports earnings Thursday. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc, the new owner of Silicon Valley Bank’s UK arm, will this week hold its first meetings with the collapsed US lender’s clients in the region, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The bank will meet with technology startups and venture capital firms in the UK and Europe to deepen its relationships with the SVB customers, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

“We have strong relationships with venture capitalists and private equity firms and regularly meet to discuss how we can support them,” an HSBC spokesperson said, declining to comment on the specifics of any meetings.

HSBC took over the UK operations of SVB for £1 ($1.2) earlier this month, shortly after the failure of the California bank. The collapse raised questions about access to funds for the tech startups that banked with SVB. HSBC has agreed to inject £2 billion of liquidity into SVB’s UK division.

“The tech sector has been a strategic priority for HSBC UK for many years and the SVB acquisition enables us to extend our position in this space,” the HSBC spokesperson said.

Even before the purchase, HSBC was a lender to startups and venture capital firms in the UK and worked with the bulk of the country’s major listed technology companies. The bank also runs its own venture investment arm through HSBC Asset Management. Noel Quinn, HSBC’s chief executive officer, and Ian Stuart, the head of HSBC UK, have already indicated there won’t be any major changes to how SVB UK is run.

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