HSBC

HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC, LSE: HSBA, HKSE: 005, Euronext: HSBC), is one of the largest banking groups in the world. It is headquartered in London, with its head office based in the HSBC Tower, London, a part of the Canary Wharf development in the London Docklands. Its founding member is The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, a bank established by the Scot Thomas Sutherland to finance British trade in the Far East in 1865.

The bank is the third largest corporation in terms of assets ([2]). It reports its numbers in US dollars as 70% of its earnings come from outside the UK. Nearly 40% of its earnings is from operations in Hong Kong. Before moving the headquarters to London in early 1990s, it was headquartered in Hong Kong. It is the largest bank in Hong Kong, and at the end of 2004 it was the third largest banking group in the world by tier 1 capital [3].

The HSBC logo is derived from the Scottish flag which is the angular cross St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, was crucified upon.

Activities in the United Kingdom

Main article: HSBC Bank UK

HSBC is one of the five largest banks in the United Kingdom, along with Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland / Natwest, Lloyds TSB and HBOS. Its shares are one of the largest components of the FTSE 100 Index. In traditional City jargon the bank is known as "Honkers and Shankers". HSBC also owns the rail leasing company HSBC Rail (formerly Forward Trust Rail).

Activities in Hong Kong

Main article: Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Hang Seng Bank

HSBC was first established in Hong Kong in March 1865. By the 1880s, the bank was acting as banker to the Hong Kong government under British rule. Prior to diversifying its business into a worldwide financial institution as it is known today through a series of alliances and acquisitions, the business of the Bank was concentrated in the Asian region, particularly in Hong Kong. It once adopted a shorthand of "HongkongBank", which is still a widely used jargon in Hong Kong today.

The Hong Kong headquarters of the HSBC are in Central, Hong Kong, in the HSBC Hong Kong headquarters building. It was designed by British architect Norman Foster, and was the most expensive building in the world for the usable floor area when it was built.

HSBC is one of the three banks which issues banknotes for Hong Kong (the other two being the Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Standard Chartered Bank).

HSBC acquired a controlling interest in the local Hang Seng Bank in 1965 during a crisis of the latter. The Hang Seng Index for stock prices in Hong Kong is named after the Hang Seng Bank.

Activities in Mainland China

Main article: Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

HSBC established its Shanghai branch office on 3 April 1865. Aside from the period 1941-1945, in which Japan forced HSBC and other foreign-invested banks to leave the local market, it has had a continuous presence in the city. HSBC was historically housed in one of the largest and most impressive buildings on The Bund, Shanghai's boulevard formerly known as the Wall Street of the Orient. In April 1955, HSBC handed over this office to the Communist government, and its activities were continued in rented premises. Its activities were mainly in inward remittances and export bills until the economic reforms of the late 1970s. Chinese authorities had offered to lease HSBC its old headquarters on The Bund in 1995 but the offer was turned down. Currently HSBC is located in its own HSBC Tower across the river in the Pudong area of Shanghai.

On 6 August 2004, HSBC announced to pay USD 1.75 billion for a 19.9% stake in Shanghai-based Bank of Communications. At the time of the announcement, Bank of Communications was China's fifth-largest bank and the investment by HSBC was eight times bigger than any previous foreign investment in a Chinese bank. Industry considered this move giving HSBC a lead in the race to grab pieces of mainland China's banking market. A year earlier, HSBC had joined with Hong Kong's Shanghai Commercial Bank, Ltd. to purchase an 11% stake in Bank of Shanghai (HSBC paid USD 62.6 million for an 8% stake) and USD 733 million for a 10% stake in Ping An Insurance.

Activities in the Americas

Canada

Main article: HSBC Bank Canada

HSBC has a strong presence in overseas Chinese communities especially in Vancouver and Toronto in Canada. HSBC Canada is the only Canadian bank with headquarters in British Columbia.

United States

Main article: HSBC Bank USA

HSBC acquired a 51% shareholding in Marine Midland banks of New York State, headquartered in Buffalo, New York in 1980 and extended to full ownership in 1987. The banks continued to operate under the Marine Midland name until 1998, when the branch offices were rebranded as HSBC Bank USA. After the acquisition of Republic National Bank in 1999, the head office of HSBC Bank USA moved from the HSBC Center in Buffalo to 452 Fifth Avenue, New York City — although the official headquarters are in Wilmington, Delaware.

There are some 400 HSBC branches throughout New York State in addition to some 20 to 25 branches in other states, including Florida and California. There was a branch office on the ground floor of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Marine Midland owned several prominent properties, including the Marine Midland Building at 140 Broadway in Manhattan, near the World Trade Center. Completed in 1967, this 52-story, 688 ft (209.7 m) highrise provides 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m²) of office space in lower Manhattan and is noted for the distinctive "Noguchi's Cube" sculpture at its entrance. The tallest building in Buffalo also carries the HSBC name, and is noted for its open entry level, under which the Buffalo Metro Rail passes.

Also of note, Marine Midland had purchased naming rights to the Buffalo sports and entertainment venue constructed in 1996, the Marine Midland Arena, home of the Buffalo Sabres. Today, the venue is known as the HSBC Arena.

On March 28, 2003 Household International was acquired by HSBC. The acquisition was controversial: Household International had, in October 2002, settled for $486 million charges of predatory lending by attorneys general in 46 U.S. states. Household International's CEO William Aldinger became the highest-paid director in the United Kingdom, before announcing his departure in February 2005. HSBC is expanding the Household International high-cost consumer financial model to Brazil, India and elsewhere, as reported-on in detail in this weekly HSBC Watch Report by the Fair Finance Watch organization.

Mexico

Main article: Banco Internacional, S.A.

Banco Internacional, S.A., Mexico's fifth largest bank was acquired by HSBC by 2003, changing the company's name to HSBC México, S.A., with presence nationwide. Though the purchase was legal, Banco Internacional, S.A. was known to be involved in money laundring operations, and participated in the infamous Fobaproa, which rescued the banks in the 1994 crisis, at the cost of the Mexican's taxes.

Activities in Continental Europe and Asia

France

Main article: Crédit Commercial de France

Crédit Commercial de France is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC, and HSBC is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

Turkey

Main article: Demirbank TAS

Demirbank TAS was acquired by HSBC in 2001 following a default of Demirbank.

Saudi Arabia

Main article: HSBC Bank Middle East

Formerly the British Bank of the Middle East.

India

The Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was established in October 1853 in Bombay (now Mumbai). The Mercantile Bank was acquired in 1959 by HSBC.

History of HSBC Holdings plc

• 1865 - The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited is established in Shanghai to finance the growing trade between China and Europe. It is incorporated in Hong Kong by special dispensation from the British Treasury under the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Ordinance 1866.
• 1959 - acquisition of The British Bank of the Middle East and the Mercantile Bank (based in India).
• 1965 - Purchase of a controlling interest in Hang Seng Bank of Hong Kong.
• 1980s - Move into Canadian and Australian markets.
• 1991 - HSBC Holdings is established; shares are traded on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
• 1992 - acquisition of Midland Bank in the United Kingdom.
• 1997 - acquisition of Roberts S.A. de Inversiones of Argentina and Banco Bamerindus of Brazil.
• 1999 - acquisition of Republic New York; shares are traded on a third stock exchange, the NYSE, as American Depositary Receipts or ADRs.
• 2000 - acquisition of Crédit Commercial de France; shares are traded on a fourth stock exchange in Paris.
• 2001 - acquisition of Demirbank TAS of Turkey.
• 2002 - acquisition of Grupo Financiero Bital, S.A. de C.V. of Mexico.
• 2003 - acquisition of Household International of the United States.
• 2003 - November 20, a bomb blast in Istanbul destroyed the bank's head office in Turkey causing several deaths and hundreds of injuries.
• 2004 - acquisition of The Bank of Bermuda Limited of Bermuda; shares are traded on a fifth stock exchange, the Bermuda Stock Exchange;
• 2004 - acquisition of Marks & Spencer Retail Financial Services Holdings Ltd.;
• 2004 - acquisition of 19.9% of the Bank of Communication of Shanghai, China.