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SCMP Reporter

HSBC Holdings chairman Sir William Purves, who is to leave for London on Thursday, says the task ahead is to keep up with the development of the troubled global environment and position the banking giant in light of the changing circumstances.

   Improving customer service is a high priority among his London duties as Sir William said ''there is some need to improve this in the UK''.

    After the acquisition of Midland Bank, HSBC had no intention of making any major purchases, he said. But he admitted the group was still looking for developments in potential markets.

    Citing the recent acquisition of a 10 per cent equity stake in Banco O'Higgins, Chile's third largest bank, he said some South American economies offered good opportunities for trade finance.

    ''The acquisition provides a chance for us to go to South America,'' Sir William said.

  ''There will be small developments of similar nature for the bank but I don't anticipate anything major.''   Sir William believes that a corporation never stands alone for very long; it either grows or it shrinks.

    Compared with the 1980s when the bank had a shopping list and looked intently to expand in Europe through acquisitions, Sir William said it now had no such list.

   HSBC was entering a consolidation stage, taking its time to smooth out the merger and maximise the synergies with Midland Bank, he said.

   Sir William said the rest of the world remained relatively unstable, with the exception of Asia.

  The ''absolute number one priority'' for any trading bank was to see the deadlock in the Uruguay Round of trade talk resolved, he said.

  ''If a resolution is not achieved, I doubt how the world economy will go,'' he said.

  Sir William, who just returned from a trip to the United States, said this concern for the trade talks was a general one shared by all bankers, heads of the International Monetary Fund and the US Government.

       Recalling the events in his 39-year career with the bank, Sir William cited the successful takeover of Midland Bank as the highlight.

   ''It is a complex transaction and a successful one. It is important for the group and Hong Kong as a large financial centre,'' he said.



Purves aims to keep bank ahead of market