The World's Bank? Maybe. The People's Bank? Certainly not. By attempting to raise the minimum ATM withdrawal limit in Hong Kong to HKD300 (almost USD40) last week, HSBC demonstrated that it is utterly oblivious to the lives of Hong Kong people. What they didn't understand is how much $300 is actually worth to the lower class of society. Furthermore, they didn't understand the value of $300 to the middle class.
For Hong Kong's low income workers, $300 could be 10% of their pay. Just think about it in that sense. If you made USD50,000 per year, would it be reasonable to ask you to withdraw USD400 each time at the ATM? You'd have to crumple those twenty $20s into a gangster roll and hope that you don't get mugged. As for the middle class folk, its not that withdrawing 300 dollars would inconvenience them, but they still value that amount as too much.
Despite all the information HSBC had (ATM records, bank account statements, credit card statements), they were unable to foresee the public strongly vetoing this move almost immediately. Why? Because it was a business decision to cut cost via shortening ATM lines (a higher minimum withdrawal = less withdrawing = shorter lines). HSBC probably never for one minute considered the thoughts, feelings, and habits of their most important asset: their customers.
For Hong Kong's low income workers, $300 could be 10% of their pay. Just think about it in that sense. If you made USD50,000 per year, would it be reasonable to ask you to withdraw USD400 each time at the ATM? You'd have to crumple those twenty $20s into a gangster roll and hope that you don't get mugged. As for the middle class folk, its not that withdrawing 300 dollars would inconvenience them, but they still value that amount as too much.
Despite all the information HSBC had (ATM records, bank account statements, credit card statements), they were unable to foresee the public strongly vetoing this move almost immediately. Why? Because it was a business decision to cut cost via shortening ATM lines (a higher minimum withdrawal = less withdrawing = shorter lines). HSBC probably never for one minute considered the thoughts, feelings, and habits of their most important asset: their customers.
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