Top European lender HSBC Holdings, which is building up its global insurance business, may strike a distribution partnership in fast-growing China in 2008, its Asia chief said on Wednesday.
Sandy Flockhart also said HSBC aims to increase staffing in the region by 10 percent over the next year, although tight labour markets pose a challenge, and added a U.S. economic slowdown would trim regional growth in the new year.
The firm's insurance venture in China is in its early stages, Flockhart noted, and said Bank of Communications, in which HSBC owns 19 percent, could be one of its distribution partners. China's Ping An Insurance, in which HSBC also holds a stake, would be a less likely distribution partner given product overlap.