HSBC, the bank which has already big presence in China through its investment in Chinese banks and insurance company, is to focus its attention on the global trade rather than other services in China.

Labeling it as "mad" to compete with such banks like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest IPO, on Chinese territory in traditional products, Michael Smith, President and chief executive officer of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited of HSBC, said here on Thursday that HSBC will concentrate on the "niche market of global trade in China."

Speaking at an exclusive media roundtable meeting, Smith said that banks in China, which has a 1.3 billion population and huge and fast-growing market, are proportionally huge, and "it would be mad to compete with such bank like ICBC whose number of branches in the country might even overshadows HSBC's number of staff".

HSBC will concentrate on such products like financial service for the international trade in China, Smith said, adding that the cooperation with Bank of Communication, Bank of Shanghai and Industrial Bank (China) could offer the much-needed link for its service in China.

HSBC's revenue growth could be materialized through its cross-border referral with the link-ups of its partners banks in China, Smith said.

With 2.5 million customers around the world of which over 50 percent need international financial service, HSBC is building up a global-links in 54 countries and territories, which brought in around 3 billion U.S. dollars worth of international facility referrals in 2006, Smith said.

The world trade grows much faster than GDP, he said, which backup HSBC's strategic attention on global trade products, he said.

China, with its increasingly big shares in world trade market, will have a greater need in financial service by HSBC, a bank group which claims to have the biggest commercial bank network in the world.

HSBC has around 40 offices in China, but is holding 19.9 percent of the shares of Bank of Communication, one of the biggest banks in China, and around 10 percent share of Shanghai Bank and Industrial Bank, and its unique global footprint, Smith said.