Canadian residents of Indian heritage who use banking services between Canada and India now have access to a simpler option for conducting their financial transactions, HSBC Bank Canada announced Thursday.

The bank says the new HSBC Non-Resident Indian (NRI) banking service will give the Indian community convenient and cost-effective access to a wide range of international banking services including remittances, and Indian rupee and other foreign currency account deposits in India.

The service is being offered in Canada as part of an HSBC worldwide banking initiative to ensure that the estimated 22 million members of the internationally based Indian community have easy access to a wide range of international banking services involving banking transactions to and from India. HSBC, which has already established NRI banking programs in 11 other international markets, has now customized this successful program to meet the specific needs of large and growing Indian community in Canada.

The number of residents of South Asian heritage living in Canada is estimated by Statistics Canada to be more than 1 million with those of Indian heritage making up a substantial proportion of that total.

“India is an increasingly important trading and business partner of Canada and hundreds of transactions are conducted each and every day between the two countries by both businesses and individuals,” says Tracy Redies, executive vp, personal financial services and wealth management, HSBC Bank Canada.

The NRI services include:

> assistance for Canadian-based Indians in opening bank accounts with HSBC in India;

> fast remittance service options; and

> assistance in choosing from a variety of deposit products offered by HSBC in India.

As part of the new NRI banking program launch, HSBC is opening a dedicated NRI representative office in Mississauga, Ont.

HSBC Bank Canada is a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc.