HSBC Holdings plc is a multinational investment bank and financial services holding company. It was the 7th largest bank in the world by 2018, and the largest in Europe, with total assets of US$2.558 trillion (as of December 2018).

HSBC traces its origin to a hong in British Hong Kong and its present form was established in London by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to act as a new group holding company in 1991; its name derives from that company’s initials. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation opened branches in Shanghai in 1865 and was first formally incorporated in 1866.

HSBC has around 3,900 offices in 65 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America, and around 38 million customers. As of 2014, it was the world’s sixth-largest public company, according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.

HSBC is organised within four business groups: Commercial Banking, Global Banking and Markets (investment banking), Retail Banking and Wealth Management, and Global Private Banking. In 2020, the bank announced that it would consolidate its Retail Banking & Wealth Management arm with Global Private Banking, to form Wealth & Personal Banking.

HSBC has a dual primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the Hang Seng Index and the FTSE 100 Index. As of 6 July 2012, it had a market capitalisation of £102.7 billion, the second-largest company listed on the London Stock Exchange, after Royal Dutch Shell. It has secondary listings on the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext Paris, and the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

Type:                     Public limited company

Traded as:           LSE: HSBA; SEHK: 5; NYSE: HSBC; Euronext: HSB; BSX: HSBC.BH; FTSE 100 Component

Industry:              Banking, Financial services

Founded:           

• First established on 3 March 1865; 155 years ago in British Hong Kong[1] (as The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank)
• First incorporated on 14 August 1866; 154 years ago[2] (as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation)
• 25 March 1991; 29 years ago[1][3] in London (as HSBC Holdings plc, as parent holding company to the entity in Hong Kong now as a subsidiary)

Founder:             Sir Thomas Sutherland

Headquarters:   8 Canada Square, London, United Kingdom

Area served:      Worldwide

Products:             Financial services

Services:

• Retail banking,
• corporate banking,
• investment banking,
• mortgage loans,
• private banking,
• wealth management,
• credit cards,
• finance and insurance

Subsidiaries:                      

• The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
• Hang Seng Bank
• HSBC Bank plc
• HSBC Finance
• HSBC Bank Canada
• HSBC Bank India
• HSBC Bank Malaysia
• HSBC Bank Middle East
• HSBC Bank USA
• HSBC México
• HSBC Sri Lanka
• HSBC UK Bank plc
• M&S Financial Services plc

Website:              www.hsbc.com