HSBC Bank plc’s Group Chief Executive, Michael Geoghegan and the Minister of Education, Youth and Employment, Louis Galea yesterday visited HSBC’s new Global Call Centre in Swatar. During the visit, it was announced that the centre will begin taking calls in October 2006.
With refurbishment works well under way, Mr Geoghegan announced that training of new recruits for the centre will begin on 18 September 2006. The call centre will operate with between 300 and 350 employees by the end of this year.
“HSBC’s call centre in Malta will complement 13 existing centres which operate in the United Kingdom and Asia. The centre will be handling calls from high-value customers from the UK who are increasingly turning to telephone banking to take care of their financial needs. Refurbishment work has been progressing very rapidly. We are pleased that some 3,200 Maltese have applied to work with HSBC. We are now in the process of short-listing these applications to start the interviews next week. This for us is a reflection of the high esteem in which HSBC is held here in Malta,” said Mr Geoghegan.
HSBC is investing an initial e7 million in this call centre. The annual recurring costs of running the centre are expected to reach another e7 million. All of the investment will be coming from HSBC Bank although the management of the centre will be in the hands of Maltese senior executives. The call centre will be headed by Ms Lorna Farrugia, currently Sliema Area Director who has a wealth of experience in Customer Service and people management. These executives will in fact be visiting the UK in August to receive the necessary training. These new job roles have also created promotion opportunities for over 20 employees of HSBC Bank Malta.
The Minister of Education, Youth and Employment, Louis Galea said that government is aware that the call centre sector is one which is growing and which needs a steady supply of well-trained individuals. Training and retraining is essential to ensure that the many Maltese workers who are interested in these jobs benefit from this important opportunity, and that there are enough human resources for the sector to continue to grow. Minister Galea said that ETC already provides training in this sector and one of the proposals put forward by MCAST for ERDF funding was for the setting up of a Call Centre Operator Training Facility within the Institute of Business and Commerce. Dr Galea said that Malta was attracting a considerable amount of foreign investment in this area and that others are seriously considering moving their business to Malta. Minister Galea said that the call centre sector is particularly interesting for women who would like to start working or return to the labour force and so is in line with the government’s stated direction.
The project kicked off eight weeks ago as soon as HSBC Bank Malta announced the decision to set up the call centre in Malta. Significant progress has been registered in this short period. A project team was immediately set up and is divided into five working groups. A team looking after the refurbishment of the premises, a team handling the recruitment and training, another dealing with the IT set up and infrastructure. An operations team is handling the operational model of the call centre and a finance team is monitoring the budget. Early in May, key members of the project team visited HSBC call centres in the UK to get a better feel of the operation.
The key milestones of this project are to have construction and mechanical works costing in the region of Lm800,000 completed by 31 July 2006, with installation of IT systems, work stations and office equipment in place by 16 September 2006 for training to commence on 18 September 2006. Although timeframes are very tight, works are currently one week ahead of schedule.
HSBC have agreed a system of bonuses and penalties with the main contractors. If works are finalised earlier than planned, the contractors will receive a bonus; if late, they will be charged a penalty.
The works being carried out at the 3,000 square metre centre have been entrusted to 25 Maltese companies including Attard Brothers Limited, Panta Contracting, Alberta, Titan International Limited, Xuereb Installations, Computime Limited, Oxford House and Forestals Limited. Supplies such as 240 computers, printers, large LCD screens, 230 desks and chairs and a staggering 32 kilometres of high-tech networking cables have all been procured locally. The IT equipment will cost circa Lm600,000.
The call centre will initially operate on a 14-hour daily basis, seven days a week.
“Everything is on track for HSBC’s call centre to open in early October. There has been a great team effort put in by HSBC Malta together with all the Maltese contractors and suppliers who are involved in this project. I am sure this will continue and that the end result will be a great advert for Malta’s abilities and productivity,” concluded Mr Geoghegan.