Firms target overseas opportunities in high dollar, says HSBC chief

Most New Zealand corporates have learned how to deal with a high exchange rate and are now looking at the opportunities it presents for investing overseas, HSBC's New Zealand chief executive, Noel McNamara, says.

The New Zealand dollar has dropped by US11c since early this year but remains high by historical standards and is still stronger than Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler would like.

McNamara, speaking to the Herald for its Meet the Chief Executives video series, noted the New Zealand dollar had been strong over the past three or four years.

"They have adapted better to a prolonged higher exchange rate and they have in some cases had to change their business and sales practices to make sure that they are continuing along that growth trajectory," he said.

Watch: Meet The CEOs: HSBC NZs Noel McNamara

"What that does is force corporates and consumers to think differently, and that's been the big change that we have seen.

"Specifically, in the corporate market the majority of big corporates have strong balance sheets and they are actually looking to invest further, and the question really is where do they invest," McNamara said.

"We have a number of corporates say to us that certainly in New Zealand they are running out of runway growth here and that they need to look offshore."

For corporates it was a matter of adapting to the exchange rate and "overstepping" themselves in terms of where they thought they should be, he said.

HSBC was established in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865 and has been in the New Zealand market for more than 25 years.

It is the biggest foreign-owned bank operating in mainland China.