HSBC has launched a digital marketplace platform connecting buyers with suppliers around the world.
Businesses in Canada, Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Singapore, the UK and the USA can now sign up to the multi-lingual HSBC Connections Hub for free. The service will be available to customers in France in the coming weeks and additional countries and territories will be added in the second half of the year.
Richard Davies, global head of propositions for HSBC Commercial Banking, says: “Researching and connecting with new business partners can be a daunting task, and one that gets harder with distance. We have designed the HSBC Connections Hub to help break down barriers for companies of all sizes that aspire to forge new business relationships at home and overseas.”
Billing the platform as a trusted social network for business, corporate users are required to create a business profile to represent their brand, including company information, products or services, location(s) and business interests. A matching engine then highlights potential buyers and sellers in other markets.
Alternatively, customers can search and view the profiles of specific businesses using variables such as location, industry and products or services. Users can send a private message to their target business partners via the Hub.
Says Davies: "Every business interacting through the Hub is an HSBC customer, giving users confidence that they already have one practical connection in common."