With dematerialisation of securities gaining speed, investments in real estate are being aligned with demands from the personal banking side, he said. As pressure on custodian activities is decreasing, it is increasing on the personal banking side. As a result of this change in business flow, real estate and human resources are being realigned to consolidate personal banking services, John said. HongkongBank, which has been a corporate bank for most of its 145 years of existence in India, is undergoing a major change in image where personal banking is concerned. "We want to be a deposit-led bank where personal banking forms a natural adjunct," he stated.

In its efforts to catch up with the leaders in credit cards and car loans, the bank has gone in for "substantial capital investments." The bank has 21 branches and is pushing its applications with the Reserve Bank of India for opening another five branches in the country. The fact that the bank is incurring capital expenditures on technology and real estate for new branches at a time when the economy is going through a slowdown does not bother the bank. "There is a strategic line of thinking which suggests that the best time to enter new businesses is when there is cyclical downturn," he said.

About a month back, Hongkong Bank launched its car loan products in Delhi. The business start on this front, years after some of the other foreign banks got into the market, was because the bank had not installed a sufficiently reliable support and back-room system. Having incurred investments in technology, the bank is now accelerating on the credit card business as well, John said.

Hong Kong Bank has 100,000 credit cards holders and has set a target of multiplying this number by five over the next three years, John said.

Add-ons in the form of affinity cards have been launched. The bank will further segment the credit card business as the market expands, he said.

"Our NPAs and the delinquency problem in the card business is on a tight leash," he said.