20 March 2003 12:00am

HSBC Bank is chasing 500,000 personal customers in Australia, by 2005.

Stuart Davis, chief executive of the bank, said in an interview the bank set an internal target of 500,000, compared with a current customer base of about 280,000 now.

"Our primary focus is in the AB market because we don't have the network to deal in the mass market, so we will focus on the upper end of the market. The principal plan is to differentiate ourselves on the basis of customer services."

Davis said the bank would focus on organic growth. The bank has had an acquisitive period...