HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business links to East Asia and a multinational footprint. It is the largest Europe-based bank by total assets, ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$3.098 trillion as of September 2024. This also puts it as the 7th largest bank in the world by total assets behind Bank of America, and the 3rd largest non-state owned bank in the world.
In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 trillion in assets under custody and $4.9 trillion in assets under administration.
HSBC traces its origins to a hong trading house in British Hong Kong. The bank was established in 1865 in Hong Kong and opened branches in Shanghai in the same year. It was formally incorporated in 1866 as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. In 1991, the current parent company, HSBC Holdings plc, was established in London and the historic Hong Kong–based bank from which the group took its name became that entity's wholly owned subsidiary. The following year, HSBC took over Midland Bank, becoming one of the largest domestic banks in the United Kingdom.
HSBC has offices, branches and subsidiaries in 57 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America, serving around 39 million customers. As of 2025, it was ranked number 15 in the world in the Forbes Global 2000, a ranking of large companies made by Forbes by sales, profits, assets, and market value. HSBC has a primary share listing on the London Stock Exchange and branch listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Bermuda Stock Exchange. Its shares are also listed on the New York Stock Exchange through the American depositary receipt programme. It is a constituent of the Hang Seng Index and the FTSE 100 Index.
History
Foundation
After the British established Hong Kong as a crown colony in the aftermath of the First Opium War, merchants from other parts of the British Empire, now in Hong Kong, felt the need for a bank to finance the growing trade, through Hong Kong and sometimes also through Shanghai, between China and India, the rest of the British Empire and Europe, of goods, produces and merchandises of all kinds, but especially opium, cultivated in or transited through the Raj.The founder, Thomas Sutherland of P&O, wanted a bank operating on "sound Scottish banking principles". Still, the original location of the bank was considered crucial and the founders chose Wardley House in Hong Kong since the construction was based on some of the best feng shui in colonial Hong Kong.
After raising a capital stock of HK$5 million, the bank commenced operations on 3 March 1865. It opened a branch in Shanghai in April of that year and started issuing locally denominated banknotes in both the Crown Colony and Shanghai soon afterwards. The bank was incorporated in Hong Kong as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation by the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Ordinance, and a branch in Japan was also established in Yokohama in 1866. Shares of the bank were one of 13 securities initially traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and were traded on that exchange until the Japanese closed the exchange in 1941.
Business development
became chief manager in 1876. During his twenty-six-year tenure, the bank became a leader in Asia. A period of expansion followed, with new buildings constructed in Bangkok, Manila and Shanghai, and a new head office building in Hong Kong in 1935. Bank note issuance displaced other forms of the era and of the region, such as silver taels, due to political and economic instability. HSBC gained significant influence as a result.International expansion
became chief manager in 1953 and set about diversifying the business. His tenure came to an end in 1962 having established The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation of California 1955 and having acquired The British Bank of the Middle East and the Mercantile Bank in Aug 1959. Turner was succeeded in 1962 by Jake Saunders. In 1964 the Chief Managership was superseded as the top executive role in the bank by an Executive Chairmanship.During the Konfrontasi period in the 1960s, a group of Indonesian forces bombed the MacDonald House building in Singapore just a few months after Singapore was granted its independence from Malaysia. Three people were killed, 33 injured, and the two Indonesian military officers responsible for the bombing were tried and executed.
The present building in Hong Kong was designed by Sir Norman Foster and was held as one of the most expensive and technologically advanced buildings in the world in 1986, costing HK$5.3 billion.
Creation of the HSBC Group
On 6 October 1989, it was registered as a regulated bank with the Banking Commissioner of the Government of Hong Kong.HSBC Holdings plc, originally incorporated in England and Wales, was a non-trading, dormant shelf company when it completed its transformation on 25 March 1991 into the parent holding company to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited now as a subsidiary, in preparation for its purchase of the UK-based Midland Bank and the impending transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China. HSBC Holdings' acquisition of Midland Bank was completed in 1992 and gave HSBC a substantial market presence in the United Kingdom. As part of the takeover conditions for the acquisition of the bank thereof, HSBC Holdings plc was required to relocate its world headquarters from Hong Kong to London in 1993.
Major acquisitions in South America started with the purchase of the Banco Bamerindus of Brazil for $1 billion in March 1997 and the acquisition of Roberts SA de Inversiones of Argentina for $600 million in May 1997. In May 1999, HSBC expanded its presence in the United States with the purchase of Republic National Bank of New York for $10.3 billion.
2000 to 2010
Expansion into Continental Europe took place in April 2000 with the acquisition of Crédit Commercial de France, a large French bank, for £6.6 billion. In July 2001 HSBC bought Demirbank, an insolvent Turkish bank. In July 2002, Arthur Andersen announced that HSBC USA, Inc., through a new subsidiary, Wealth and Tax Advisory Services USA Inc., would purchase a portion of Andersen's tax practice. The new HSBC Private Client Services Group would serve the wealth and tax advisory needs of high-net-worth individuals. Then in August 2002 HSBC acquired Grupo Financiero Bital, SA de CV, Mexico's third largest retail bank for $1.1 billion.In November 2002, HSBC expanded further in the United States. Under the chairmanship of John Bond, it spent £9 billion to acquire Household Finance Corporation, a US credit card issuer and subprime lender. In a 2003 cover story, The Banker noted "when banking historians look back, they may conclude that was the deal of the first decade of the 21st century". Under the new name of HSBC Finance, the division was the second largest subprime lender in the United States.
The new headquarters of HSBC Holdings at 8 Canada Square, London officially opened in April 2003.
In July 2003, HSBC announced that it had agreed to acquire 82.19% of the Korean fund administrator, Asset Management Technology, for $12.47 million in cash; it was the largest fund administrator in South Korea, with $24 billion of assets under administration. In September 2003 HSBC bought Polski Kredyt Bank SA of Poland for $7.8 million. In June 2004 HSBC expanded into China buying 19.9% of the Bank of Communications of Shanghai. In the United Kingdom HSBC acquired Marks & Spencer Retail Financial Services Holdings Ltd for £763 million in December 2004. Acquisitions in 2005 included Metris Inc, a US credit card issuer for $1.6 billion in August and 70.1% of Dar es Salaam Investment Bank of Iraq in October. In April 2006, HSBC bought the 90 branches in Argentina of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro for $155 million. In December 2007 HSBC acquired the Chinese Bank in Taiwan. In May 2008, HSBC acquired IL&FS Investment, an Indian retail broking firm. On 3 August 2008, HSBC began its banking operations in Algeria with the opening of a branch in Algiers.
In 2005, Bloomberg Markets magazine accused HSBC of money laundering for drug dealers and state sponsors of terrorism. Subsequent investigation indicated that it was accurate and proved that the bank was involved in money laundering for the Sinaloa Cartel and throughout Mexico.
In July 2006, HSBC announced that it would acquire Westpac's sub-custody operations in Australia and New Zealand for $112.5 million, making HSBC the leading sub-custody and clearing player in Australia and New Zealand.
In 2007, HSBC wrote down its holdings of subprime-related mortgage securities by $10.5 billion, becoming the first major bank to report its losses due to the unfolding subprime mortgage crisis.
According to Bloomberg, "HSBC is one of world's strongest banks by some measures". When HM Treasury required all UK banks to increase their capital in October 2007, the group transferred £750 million to London within hours, and announced that it had just lent £4 billion to other UK banks.
In March 2009, HSBC announced that it would shut down the branch network of its HSBC Finance arm in the United States, leading to nearly 6,000 job losses and leaving only the credit card business to continue operating. Chairman Stephen Green stated, "HSBC has a reputation for telling it as it is. With the benefit of hindsight, this is an acquisition we wish we had not undertaken." According to analyst Colin Morton, "the takeover was an absolute disaster".
In March 2009, it announced that it had made US$9.3 billion of profit in 2008 and announced a £12.5 billion rights issue to enable it to buy other banks that were struggling to survive. However, uncertainty over the rights issue's implications for institutional investors caused volatility in the Hong Kong stock market: on 9 March 2009 HSBC's share price fell 24.14%, with 12 million shares sold in the last few seconds of trading.