HSBC is going social… alone, launching a dedicated network for its business clients to connect, communicate and share resources, the bank announced.

Aptly named ‘Connection Hub’, the network will offer registered businesses a digital meeting point to “dialogue” and “forge new business relationships at home and overseas,” the bank said.

Taking its cues from today’s most popular social networks, the ‘Hub’ appears to be a hybrid between LinkedIn’s professional social network model and Facebook’s more consumer-oriented offering.

“Customers create a business profile to represent their brand, including company information, products or services, locations and business interests,” said Richard Davies, HSBC’s Global Head of Propositions.

Uniquely, the service will also deploy a “matching engine” – akin to a dating app profile recommendation – using a dedicated machine-learning algorithm to connect relevant businesses across discrete markets, Davies said.

Similar to other consumer-facing social networks, HSBC’s Connection Hub will allow clients to search and view profiles of specific businesses using location, industry category, and products or service offerings. Users will also be able to reach out to target business partners through a “private” message service.

The network will be free to access for HSBC clients from eight countries, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, India, Mexico, the UK and the USA. While currently a web-only service, HSCS said it plans to roll out a mobile-accessible version within the year.