HSBC Bermuda chief executive officer Richard Moseley says the bank welcomes competition after Finance Minister Bob Richards said he was looking at ways to “restructure the banking sector”.

For a second successive year in the national Budget statement, Mr Richards claimed banks were not lending enough at a time when the economy needed more credit to grow.

“As Bermuda has no central bank, the influence Government has over the lending practices of banks is very limited,” Mr Richards said. “That is why it is so important that other sources of capital be brought to bear to fuel recovery for Bermuda’s economy.

“Government is studying various options to restructure the banking sector and it continues to be in discussion with the banks about these and other relevant issues.”

In an interview, Mr Moseley said he would not be concerned about other banks being invited to set up on the Island to compete with HSBC Bermuda and the three other local banks — Butterfield, Clarien and Bermuda Commercial Bank.

“We would welcome competition — but we need to ensure that the competition increases the size of the pie,” Mr Moseley said. “If it’s merely moving the existing revenues around, it will not add to employment for the Island. Additional revenues are critical for Bermuda.

“If newcomers offer services that are now offered outside Bermuda, then that would be net positive for the Island.”

Mr Moseley conceded that it would unrealistic to think that companies within the Island’s huge international business sector could have all their financial services needs met by the four domestic banks. “Suitcase bankers” were already travelling to the Island and doing business with large firms, he added.

“We go head to head with the suitcase bankers day to day,” Mr Moseley said. “Where we win is that customers like dealing with someone they see locally. If they have a problem, they know they can talk about it. With the suitcase banker, it’s a more remote relationship.

“We would ask that anybody coming in should be on a level playing field with existing banks,” he added. This meant that they should be required to offer a range of services to the community and not be allowed to focus solely on more lucrative international business banking.

The costs of running a bank in Bermuda were high, Mr Moseley said. “For example, we’re a small local bank, but we offer 20 currencies. That is expensive to do. A small local bank somewhere in the US would not offer that.

“Anybody coming to Bermuda would have to support local as well as international business.”

One of the benefits of having a global bank like HSBC in Bermuda was the career development opportunities it afforded to Bermudians, Mr Moseley said. Several Bermudians had benefited from secondments overseas within the HSBC network, he said, and had then returned to the Island to take up higher-ranking positions in the bank.

He cited the examples of Jill Virgil-Smith, Renee Bullock-Cann, Neville Grant and Shannon Burgess, as Bermudians who were all occupying management roles at the bank after secondments overseas.