HSBC

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  HSBC Holdings plc
logo
Country United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Seat London
legal form Public limited company
ISIN GB0005405286
BIC MIDLGB22XXX
founding 1865
Website www.hsbc.com
Business data 2019
Total assets 2715 billion US dollars (2019)
Employee 235,000
management
Board Noel Quinn (Interim CEO )
Supervisory board Mark Tucker ( Chairman )

Bank HSBC (Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Holdings PLC ) is a major international British bank based in London . With a turnover of 56.1 billion US dollars and a profit of 6.0 billion US dollars, HSBC ranks 9th among the world's largest banks according to Forbes Global 2000 . At the same time, HSBC is the largest European bank (as of 2019). The company achieved a market capitalization of approximately $ 200 billion in early 2018.

The British financial institution is represented in Germany by HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt . According to investigations by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the Swiss subsidiary, HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) , is suspected of years of money laundering . The Austrian agency is "HSBC Global Asset Management (Austria)".

HSBC is one of 30 major banks that have been classified by the Financial Stability Board  (FSB) as a “ systemically important financial institution ”. It is therefore subject to special monitoring and stricter requirements for the endowment with equity . Due to the international interdependencies, a possible failure of the bank is so problematic that its failure would be associated with a particularly high risk for the international financial markets.

history

Former HSBC main building in Shanghai (front)

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was founded in Hong Kong in 1865 at the height of the world trade boom by the Scot Thomas Sutherland to finance British trade in the Far East . The founding shareholder at the time was, among others, the German private bank Joh.Berenberg, Gossler & Co. , which founded the bank together with other business people in order to finance the increasing international trade between Europe, China and the United States. The HSBC's first board of directors consisted of British, German, Swiss, Persian and US business people. In the early days, German business interests had a decisive influence on the development of the bank, which is reflected, among other things, by two German business people who were on the board of directors for many years.

This fact also explains why in 1889, in addition to branches in London and Lyon , a branch was also opened in Hamburg, which were the first HSBC representatives in mainland Europe.

World Headquarters, the HSBC Tower in Canary Wharf , London
The current main building in Hong Kong

In 1959, the British Bank of the Middle East was acquired, in 1978 a majority in Marine Midland Bank , and in 1992 the British Midland Bank followed . With this purchase, HSBC had to relocate its headquarters to London for legal reasons.

In 1972 HSBC acquired 21% of Laiki Bank in Greece and in 2006 passed these shares on to the Greek Marfin Investment Group .

In May 1999 it was announced that HSBC had acquired the US Bank Republic New York Corp., founded by Edmond Safra in 1966 . - one of New York's largest banks (RNYC) - and its European subsidiary Safra Republic Holdings (SRH) SA for $ 10.3 billion.

In 2000 the then largest British banking company HSBC took over the French bank Crédit Commercial de France (CCF) for eleven billion euros.

From February 2009 the CEO Michael Geoghegan wanted to expand the business in the Asian region from Hong Kong. He was replaced by Stuart Gulliver in January 2010 . Gulliver initially reduced the bank's global presence from 87 countries to 73. In June 2015, he announced that the bank would withdraw entirely from Turkey and only want to maintain a minimal presence in Brazil. He confirmed that the bank would continue to be a global bank, but that he wanted to concentrate on various other Asian countries. At the same time he announced a continuation of the worldwide job cuts that had begun under him. Another 25,000 employees should leave the bank. This should reduce costs and increase returns. Gulliver reserved a separate decision on whether the bank would maintain its headquarters there, which it has had in Great Britain since 1992, for the end of 2015. In February 2016, it was announced that the bank would not relocate its headquarters, as, according to its own statement, with the administration in London, it could offer customers the best conditions. The previous practice of deciding on the location of the headquarters every three years has been dropped. At the beginning of 2018, John Flint took over as CEO from Stuart Gulliver, who was dismissed by the Board of Directors after just 18 months. The official rationale was that he had not implemented a cost-cutting plan quickly enough; Internally, however, he is accused of having passed on information about the Chinese customer Huawei to the US investigators and thus indirectly contributed to the arrest of their manager Meng Wanzhou in Canada. The previous head of corporate banking, Noel Quinn , was appointed as interim head in July 2019 . In August it was announced that around 4,000 jobs would be cut by the end of the year. With the presentation of the 2019 annual results, the company announced that it would cut around 35,000 jobs over the next three years.

Financial crisis, illicit profits and money laundering for terrorists and drug traffickers

As part of the financial crisis , HSBC waived state aid at the beginning of 2009 and instead carried out a capital increase of £ 12.5 billion (approx. EUR 13.76 billion), which was subscribed by 96.6 percent of the existing shareholders.

In September 2010, HSBC, along with ten other banks, was fined € 381.1 million by the Conseil de la Concurrence . The banks had made an agreement according to which they would charge their customers 4.3 cents check fees per check from January 2002 to July 2007 in order to generate extra profits. This affected 80% of the checks used in France. Check transactions in France were free until 2002. After the intervention of the banking regulator, which called the profits "illegal", this practice was stopped. The banks in this cartel were also fined for excessive fees totaling 3.8 million euros.

In July 2012, the US Senate reprimanded the bank for its “pervasively polluted” corporate culture . The allegations made concerned money laundering for terrorists and drug traffickers. In December 2012, the Bank and the agreed US Attorney's Office to a fine of 1.9 billion US dollars for the inadequate controls, money laundering in the past have made possible (profits before tax in the third quarter of 2012: 3.5 Billion US dollars). This is the highest fine ever paid for such a crime. For the decision against prosecution, US Attorney General Lanny Breuer gave economic reasons. According to Breuer, the prosecution of HSBC would have had too serious an impact as the bank would very likely have lost its banking license in the USA, which would have jeopardized the bank's continued existence, which in turn would have cost thousands of jobs and destabilized the entire banking system ( "Too big to jail").

In February 2016, the bank reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and state justice departments to pay a fine of $ 470 million for its behavior during the 2008 financial crisis. The bank has been accused of having 'automated' foreclosures on late mortgage payments . The agreement stipulates that homeowners who lost their home as a result of this practice between 2008 and 2012 are entitled to a total of $ 59.3 million in compensation. HSBC also undertook to change its approach to foreclosures and to grant those affected a right of objection in the future, which will be decided by an independent body.

"Swissleaks" scandal 2015

In February 2015, the largest data leak in the banking industry to date was known as Swiss-Leaks , which affected confidential documents from HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) . They revealed the image of "a criminal organization". In total, the data is said to affect US $ 100 billion from 106,000 customers in 203 countries. The HSBC did business "with people suspected of having financed Osama bin Laden's terrorist group, with arms dealers who presumably brought grenades to child soldiers in Africa, with henchmen of dictators, with suspected dealers of blood diamonds or drugs and with fraudsters of all kinds" .

Company profile

HSBC is based in London and has around 6,000 branches in over 70 countries. The company is represented on all continents. In Hong Kong itself, the bank has four branches (so-called HSBC Business Centers ) on the main island of Hong Kong Island, five branches in Kowloon and two branches in New Territories. The HSBC main building is located on the main island at Queen's Road 1 (Central).

Corporate structure

The most important subsidiaries of the group of companies:

Subsidiary Field of activity
The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited Hong Kong, branches in Asia
Hang Seng Bank Limited Hong Kong
HSBC Bank plc Great Britain
HSBC France France
HSBC Bank USA new York
HSBC Bank Brasil SA - Banco Múltiplo Brazil
HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) SA Switzerland, Hong Kong SAR, Monaco, Luxembourg, United Kingdom , Singapore and Channel Islands.
Grupo Financiero HSBC, SA de CV Mexico
HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt Germany
Source:

Group structure:

HSBC Holdings plc

  • HSBC Bank plc, 100%
  • HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) SA, 100%
  • HSBC Holdings BV (Netherlands), 100%
    • HSBC Bank Egypt SA, 94.00%
    • The Saudi British Bank, 40.00%
    • HSBC Asia Holdings (UK) Limited, 100%
  • HSBC Bank Middle East Limited , 100%
  • The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, 100%
  • Hang Seng Bank Limited, 62.00%
    • Hang Seng Bank China Limited, 100%
  • HSBC Overseas Holdings (UK) Limited, 100%
    • HSBC Bank Canada, 100%
  • HSBC North America Holdings Inc., 100%
    • HSBC Investments (North America) Inc., 100%
      • HSBC Finance Corporation, USA, 100%
      • HSBC Securities USA Inc., 100%
    • HSBC USA Inc., 100%
      • HSBC Bank USA NA, 100%
  • HSBC Latin America Holdings (UK) Limited
    • HSBC Mexico SA, 99%
    • HSBC Bank Brasil SA
  • HSBC Latin America BV
    • HSBC Bank Argentina SA, 99.00%

Source:

HSBC Amanah

The global division HSBC Amanah is the on Islamic banking specialized business unit of HSBC. It was founded in 1998 with the aim of having HSBC's worldwide activities in this area appear under a single brand. HSBC Amanah has regional offices in the United Kingdom, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Singapore and Brunei.

In the field of Islamic bonds (Sukuk) , HSBC Amanah is the leading provider worldwide. In 2005, for example, the third Islam-compliant bond was issued for Pakistan, after such a financial structure was successfully launched in 2002 for Malaysia and 2003 for Qatar.

Scientists point to business activities of HSBC that are used to support fundamentalist Islamic groups.

See also

HSBC building in Hong Kong (2008)

Web links

Commons : HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : HSBC  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in the BIC directory at SWIFT
  2. ↑ HSBC: Annual Results 2019. February 18, 2020, accessed on February 19, 2020 .
  3. ^ HSBC Holdings on the Forbes Global 2000 List . In: Forbes . ( forbes.com [accessed July 17, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Ermes Gallarotti: Purification process of the HSBC Private Bank (Suisse). In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. February 10, 2015, international edition, p. 24.
  5. ↑ Christoph Giesen, Charlotte Theile : A case for the public prosecutor. House search at the Swiss HSBC: Investigators in Geneva are now taking action against the bank, which is under criticism due to global revelations. The authorities are investigating the suspicion of money laundering. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. February 19, 2015, p. 15.
  6. ^ Policy Measures to Address Systemically Important Financial Institutions. In: Financial Stability Board . (FSB) of November 4, 2011 (PDF; 102 kB).
  7. ↑ 2016 list of global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). (PDF (176 kB)) Secretariat to the Financial Stability Board Bank for International Settlements, November 21, 2016, accessed on May 25, 2018 .
  8. ^ Berenberg Bank, History: The banking house in the early days.
  9. ↑ cyprus-mail.com + archived copy ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ British financial giant buys US bank , Hamburger Abendblatt No. 10, page 23, historical archive from May 11, 1999
  11. ↑ Bankriese buys “Juwel”, HSBC takes over French bank CCF Hamburger Abendblatt No. 79, page 21, historical archive of April 3, 2000
  12. ↑ UPDATE 3-HSBC CEO moves to Hong Kong, focus shifts 'home'
  13. ↑ HSBC is shedding up to 50,000 jobs on Tagesschau.de , June 9, 2015, accessed on June 9, 2015
  14. ↑ HSBC moves to cut 25,000 jobs globally in: The Guardian , June 9, 2015, accessed June 9, 2015
  15. ^ Jill Treanor HSBC to keep its headquarters in the UK , in: The Guardian, February 14, 2016, accessed February 15, 2016
  16. ↑ Michael Sauga u. a .: Eternal kneeling . In: Der Spiegel . August 24, 2019, p. 60 ff .
  17. ↑ Sigrid Ulrich: Europe's largest bank HSBC is likely to cut 10,000 jobs. In: de.euronews.com . October 7, 2019, accessed October 7, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Spiegel-online: HSBC cancels up to 35,000 jobs. February 18, 2020, accessed February 19, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Handelsblatt - Mega capital increase - HSBC strengthens equity by £ 12.5 billion from April 5, 2009
  20. ^ Collusion in the banking sector . Press release of the Autorité de la concurrence of September 20, 2010, accessed on February 9, 2011
  21. ↑ French banks are supposed to pay millions in: Handelsblatt of September 21, 2010, accessed on February 9, 2011
  22. ↑ US Senate reprimands the major bank hsbc - a thoroughly dirty corporate culture in: Süddeutsche from July 17, 2012, accessed on July 17, 2012
  23. ↑ US Senate accuses major bank of money laundering ( memento from July 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) in: Tagesschau (ARD) from July 18, 2012, accessed on July 18, 2012
  24. ↑ a b Dominic Rushe, Jill Treanor: HSBC's record $ 1.9bn fine preferable to prosecution, US authorities insist . The Guardian , December 11, 2012, accessed December 17, 2012
  25. ↑ HSBC blasted for 'stunning failures over oversight' BBC News December 11, 2012, accessed December 15, 2012
  26. ↑ Rupert Neate, HSBC fined $ 470m for 'abusive mortgage practices' during 2008 crisis , in: The Guardian, February 5, 2016, accessed February 15, 2016
  27. ↑ Ermes Gallarotti: Another Reality. The Swiss HSBC subsidiary cannot get rid of the past . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of February 10, 2015, international edition, p. 19.
  28. ^ ICIJ : Explore the Swiss Leaks Data , accessed on February 11, 2015
  29. ↑ Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer, Gerard Ryle: Tresor of the powerful and the secretive . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 9, 2015, p. 6.
  30. ↑ hsbc.com: hsbc.com
  31. ↑ Find a center near you , overview of HSBC Hong Kong, online at: business.hsbc.com.hk / ...
  32. ↑ hsbc.com: Structure and network
  33. ↑ Simplified Structure Chart of HSBC Holdings plc (PDF)
  34. ↑ HSBC Amanah (English)
  35. ↑ AME Info (March 17, 2005): ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Successful international 'Sukuk' issue for Pakistan arranged by HSBC Amanah ) (English).@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ameinfo.com
  36. ↑ Ulrich Schneckener: Transnational Terrorism. Character and background of the "new" terrorism . 2006, ISBN 3-518-12374-2 , pp. 150 .