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Global Banking and Financial Services to Immigrants in Canada and the US

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Abstract

It is important to consider how financial institutions are adjusting their operational strategies because of the changing dynamics of financial resource and population flows. This paper compares the ways in which globally prominent banks provide financial services to immigrants in Canada and the US and addresses the following two research questions: (1) How has HSBC reacted strategically and operationally to people–money comovements involving immigrants, in which HSBC has ethnic assets, in the US and Canada? (2) What are the similarities and differences in HSBC’s strategic choices in entering or expanding in the San Francisco and Vancouver areas, and what explains such differences?

Résumé

Il est important de considérer la façon dont les institutions financières ajustent leurs stratégies opérationelles en réaction à la dynamique changeante des mouvements de ressources financières et démographiques. Cet article compare la façon dont les banques mondiales offrent des services financiers aux immigrants au Canada et aux États-Unis. De plus, l’article traite des deux questions de recherche suivantes: 1) Au Canada et aux États-Unis, comment la HSBC a-t-elle réagit, sur les plan stratégique et opérationnel, aux mouvements démographique et financier qui impliquent les immigrants et dans lesquels la HSBC détient des actifs ethniques? et 2) Quelles sont les similarités et les différences entre les choix stratégiques de la HSBC de percer ou de s’agrandir dans la région de San Francisco et celle de Vancouver, et comment expliquer les différences?

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Notes

  1. Interestingly, only in Hong Kong that the full name of HSBC in both Chinese and English can be seen to spell out: “香港上海匯豐銀行有限公司”/“The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Incorporation Limited”.

  2. For a methodological discussion on interview methods, please refer to Crouch and McKenzie (2006)

  3. See, for instance, Adams (2004), Aescobar (2004), Dymski (2005), Glytsos (2005), Hiebert and Ley (2006), Orozco (2004), Preston et al. (2006), Rapoport and Docquie (2005), Rodríguez-Novoa (2005), and Straubhaar and Vadean (2005).

  4. The following summary passage from The Economist is accurate and provocative: “Only Citibank, which caters to a tiny, upmarket clientele in most countries, and the Sino-British HSBC, which lacks a substantial American retail presence, are true ‘global’ retail banks” (August 28, 1999). The statement about HSBC’s tiny US presence is outdated.

  5. This information was taken on February 16, 2006 from HSBC’s “Group history” on its webpage, http://www.hsbc.com/hsbc/about_hsbc/group-history?cp=/public/groupsite/about_hsbc/en/group_history_1980_1999.html

  6. While not the central focus of our current pilot project, we notice and are reminded frequently the differences of HSBC’s operations in the East and West Coasts in America and Canada, respectively.

  7. Such a long-standing unlimited guarantee by its parent company was discontinued in 2005, signifying HSBC Bank Canada’s growth (HSBC Bank Canada 2005).

  8. Minnan is an identical spoken language as Taiwanese.

  9. The word “wayfoong” is phonetically the same in Cantonese as the first two characters in “匯豐銀行”.

  10. See, for instance “Canada losing its appeal for Chinese immigrants” Global and Mail, October 18, 2006.

  11. Calculation based on http://Uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/yearbook/2000/Yearbook2000.pdf for US and http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/facts2002/index.html for Canada.

  12. Almost all other Asian foreign banks only have one single-branch operation in either Vancouver downtown or Richmond, and largely niche serving for their compatriots. Some have no retail functions as Schedule III foreign bank branches.

  13. The number of branches has grown to 21 as of October 29, 2006.

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Acknowledgement

A faculty research grant from the Canadian government, administered by the Canadian Embassy, enabled us to conduct this pilot project. The Canada–US Fulbright Foundation has facilitated Wei Li’s follow-up work during her tenure as a Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Canada. We are indebted to our interviewees for their time and insights; to Tung Chan, Daniel Hiebert, Thomas Hutton, David Ley, Peter Li, Lucia Lo, and Milton Wong in Canada for their guidance in various stages of the project and/or during writing process; and to Casey Allen, Jana Hutchison, Yun Zhou and Kayoko Sekiyama at Arizona State University for invaluable research assistance. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the 2006 Association of American Geographers’ Annual Meeting, the 2006 regional conference of the International Society of Studying Chinese Overseas in South Africa, and the 2007 Canadian Association of Geographers annual meeting in Saskatoon. We greatly appreciate the comments made by conference attendees and the constructive critiques by two anonymous reviewers of this article. Any errors which remain are entirely ours.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asian Pacific American Studies Program, School of Geographical Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-5503, USA

    Wei Li

  2. Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Wei Li

  3. Department of Geography, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA

    Alex Oberle

  4. University of California Center, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Gary Dymski

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  1. Wei Li
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Li, W., Oberle, A. & Dymski, G. Global Banking and Financial Services to Immigrants in Canada and the US. Int. Migration & Integration 10, 1–29 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-008-0089-1

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