HSBC's Asian Pilgrimage
Sydney found itself home to two major pilgrimages last week – one, the arrival of a symbolic 3.8 metre wooden cross to represent World Youth Day 2008, the other an Olympic-styled relay torch making its way around Asia to Athens, Greece.
World Youth Day is an annual global event to rival the Olympics and is being held next year in Sydney, while the latter is an initiative of HSBC Bank and will take in 19 countries across the region.
burningpants was alerted to the HSBC continental challenge after spotting (impossible to miss) half a dozen red T-shirt-clad people running through Sydney’s CBD in the pouring rain last Friday.
World Youth Day, as you all know, is a global religious event orchestrated by the Catholic Church, while HSBC’s journey is called the ‘Going for Gold’ relay and is something being organised by the group’s personal finance division.
The initiative is a quirky but interesting one for the group.
HSBC positions itself as a global bank with local experience and expertise, and the relay is likely to achieve two positive outcomes for the group.
First, it is likely to raise the motivation levels of its staff working in the PFS division in the region.
Secondly, while many corporate staff events are poorly conceived and hence received, this one is likely to generate some positive cross boarder goodwill among HSBC staff and branches in the region.
For Australia, HSBC began the Australian leg of its journey last week with its country head, Stuart Davis, handing the torch to the team from head office prior to them setting off on the relay around Australia.
The team ran the Olympic torch to HSBC’s Exchange Centre branch where branch manager Ana Whiteman and her team received the handover.
Ana’s team continued the relay by running the torch to HSBC’s Town Hall branch that afternoon.
The ‘Going for Gold’ Asia Pacific PFS Olympic Flame Relay – as it has been named - is designed to help drive HSBC’s service and sales momentum in the run up to the Asia Pacific Personal Financial Services Regional Convention to be held in Greece in 2008.
The olympic torch will be relayed across 19 countries and territories across the region which qualify for the 2008 convention.
The relay will continue around Australia with the torch being passed from branch to branch, before concluding the Antipodean leg of the event on July 19 when it will be passed to Hong Kong.
The torch will continue its relay around the region before finishing its journey at the opening ceremony at the HSBC in Greece next year.
One Comment on “HSBC's Asian Pilgrimage”
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David says:
Following HSBC’s sudden exit from the broker originated loan market, and their flicking of the majority of their broker originated mortgage loans to FirstMac, there will be a sizable proportion of the populace who couldn’t give a toss what they get up to.