HSBC Mexico, S.A., the principal operating company of Group Financiero HSBC, S.A. de C.V., is one of Mexico’s four largest banking and financial service companies, with 1,400 branches and 5,200 ATMs. HSBC purchased Banco Internacional, S.A. known as Bital, in November 2002, several years after Bital participated in the controversial Fobaproa

Fobaproa

FOBAPROA is a contingencies fund created in Mexico in 1990 to attempt to resolve liquidity problems of the banking system in that country. The Fobaproa was applied in 1995 during the economic crisis to protect all Mexican banks from going bankrupt, and thus destroying the Mexican Economy...

, which rescued the nation's banks from the 1994 crisis, at the cost of the Mexican taxpayers.

HSBC's Mexico headquarters are at Torre HSBC on the Paseo de la Reforma

Paseo de la Reforma

Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs in a straight line, cutting diagonally across Mexico City. It was designed by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig in the 1860s and modeled after the great boulevards of Europe, such as Vienna's Ringstrasse or the Champs-Élysées in Paris...

 near the Angel of Independence in Colonia Cuauhtémoc, Cuauhtémoc

Cuauhtémoc, D.F.

Cuauhtémoc, named after the former Aztec leader, is one of the 16 boroughs of the Federal district of Mexico City. It consists of the oldest parts of the city, extending over what was the entire city in the 1920s. This area is the historic and culture center of the city, although it is not the...

, Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

. Around 2,800 staff work in the 40,000 m² tower.

Rebranding

On January 29, 2004 the entire branch network of Bital (Banco Internacional) was rebranded as HSBC overnight. HSBC saturated newspapers, television and radio, purchased advertising space on every luggage trolley at Mexico City International Airport

Mexico City International Airport

Benito Juárez International Airport , in Venustiano Carranza, one of the sixteen boroughs into which Mexico's Federal District is divided, is a commercial airport that serves Mexico City, the capital of Mexico...

, on the sides of taxis, on buses, on the plastic bags in which newspapers are delivered, on flower stalls the side of tall buildings around Mexico City. That same day Bital customers received new credit cards with the HSBC logo and notification of changes to their account numbers.

Mexican banking

Under the HSBC brand the bank maintains a network of around 1400 branches nationwide, with the longest opening hours (8AM-7PM) including Saturdays.
A new innovation brought to the Mexican market was the first fixed rate mortgage

Fixed rate mortgage

A fixed-rate mortgage is a mortgage loan first developed by the Federal Housing Administration where the interest rate on the note remains the same through the term of the loan, as opposed to loans where the interest rate may adjust or "float." Other forms of mortgage loan include interest only...

, which was an unusual product in Mexico, but was chosen to appeal to low-income customers concerned with the repossession

Repossession

Repossession is generally used to refer to a financial institution taking back an object that was either used as collateral or rented or leased in a transaction. Repossession is a "self-help" type of action in which the party having right of ownership of the property in question takes the property...

s that followed the crisis of 1994-95.

ATM network

HSBC was the first Mexican bank to offer pre-approved personal loans via ATMs, and also has a program called "Niños con Futuro" which allows customers to make charitable donations via ATMs - this idea has since been taken up by HSBC Bank UK

HSBC Bank (Europe)

HSBC Bank plc is one of the four major clearing banks in the United Kingdom and is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings. The business ranges from the traditional High Street roles of personal finance and commercial banking, to private banking, consumer finance as well as corporate and...

. HSBC Mexico also deploys advanced computerised modeling techniques to predict usage patterns for ATMs and ensure that they are best placed for usage and hence profit.

Pensions

On August 14, 2003 HSBC agreed to acquire AFORE Allianz Dresdner, S.A. de C.V., from the Allianz Group,

Other Mexican Operations

HSBC México, S.A. Institución de Banca Múltiple (Bank)

HSBC Seguros, S.A. de C.V. (Insurance)

HSBC Afore, S.A. de C.V. (Pension Fund)

HSBC Fianzas, S.A.

HSBC Casa de Bolsa, S.A. de C.V. (Stockbroker)

HSBC Operadora de Fondos, S.A. de C.V.

HSBC also has a 19.99 per cent stake in Financiera Independencia, S.A. de C.V. and its affiliate Serfincor, S.A. de C.V. which was acquired in the first half of 2006.

Regional Operations

As a principal member of the HSBC Group HSBC Mexico is responsible for other operations in the area, principally HSBC Bank (Panama) S.A.

HSBC Bank (Panama)

HSBC Bank S.A. is a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc head-quartered in Panama City, Panama. The bank providesPersonal banking, Corporate banking and Treasury services to Panama.-History:...

, HSBC Colombia S.A. formerly Grupo Banistmo

Grupo Banistmo

Grupo Banistmo was a Panamanian financial services company, and the largest in Central America. It was founded in 1984. In 1999 it began an expansion strategy that has resulted in the acquisition of banks in several Central American countries, as well as Colombia and the Bahamas. It was the...

, HSBC Costa Rica through the acquisition of the local bank Banex, HSBC El Salvador by the acquisition of the local bank Banco Salvadoreño and HSBC Honduras through what was BGA

BGA

BGA can refer to:* Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, the first complete edition of the works of J.S. Bach* Ball Grid Array, a type of surface-mount packaging used for integrated circuits* Battle Ground Academy, a private school in Franklin, Tennessee, USA...

.