HSBC Holdings plc provides banking and financial products and services. The company operates through Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Commercial Banking, Global Banking and Markets, and Global Private Banking segments. The Retail Banking and Wealth Management segment offers personal banking products and services, mortgages and loans, credit cards, insurance and investment products, savings products, international services, and wealth solutions and financial planning services, as well as telephone, Internet, and mobile banking services. The Commercial Banking segment provides services and financing for buyers and suppliers in the trade cycle; liquidity and cash management services; capital financing, including debt, equity, and advisory services; and insurance and investment products, such as business and financial protection, trade insurance, employee benefits, corporate wealth management, and other commercial risk insurance products to small enterprises, mid-market companies, and multinationals. The Global Banking and Markets segment is involved in the provision of advisory, financing, prime, research and analysis, securities, trading and sales, and transaction banking services to corporates, financial institutions, and resources and energy groups. The Global Private Banking segment provides private banking, and investment and wealth management services to business owners, entrepreneurs, and senior executives and their families. As of January 14, 2019, the company operated approximately 3,800 offices. It has operations in 65 countries and territories located in Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa. HSBC Holdings plc was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
HSBC Offers $3.9 Billion in Liquidity Relief to Hong Kong Firms Rebecca Choong Wilkins , Bloomberg•February 10, 2020 (Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc is providing more than HK$30 billion ($3.9 billion) in liquidity relief to its business customers in Hong Kong, joining other lenders that are easing borrowing terms to help companies battered by the coronavirus outbreak. Measures include a principal repayment moratorium for borrowers with commercial loans secured by property, as well as those with taxi and public minibus loans, according to a statement from the London-based bank Sunday. Trade finance customers can also apply for access to an overdraft of as much as HK$10 million for six months to help with daily operational needs, such as employee payrolls and rent. “We are committed to supporting our customers and will introduce more initiatives that will provide near-term relief,” Diana Cesar, HSBC’s local chief executive officer, said in the statement. Banks across the city are considering loan relief to help struggling customers and businesses as the outbreak crimps spending and travel. BOC Hong Kong Holdings Ltd. and Bank of East Asia Ltd. announced similar measures last week, while the city’s finance chief has urged landlords to provide rental relief to struggling firms. Extra Leave HSBC, Europe’s biggest finance company by market value, is also giving employees on the “front-line” and in “critical operations” five extra days of leave until next year, a spokeswoman said last week. Staff are being offered free lunch at canteens until the middle of this month, or a HK$100 voucher for those who don’t work at offices with eating facilities. Hong Kong’s retail sales tumbled for an 11th-straight month in December, capping a year of anguish for the self-governing territory torn by anti-government protests now morphing into turmoil due to the virus, which has killed more than 900 people, including one in Hong Kong. The slowdown in HSBC’s biggest market adds to pressure on Chairman Mark Tucker to deliver on a turnaround. The former insurance executive, who arrived in 2017 after making his mark in Asia, is set to roll out a top-to-bottom overhaul of the sprawling lender next week. The measures may include job losses, cuts to equities trading, and possibly combining the corporate and investment-banking units, people familiar with the matter have said. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-offers-3-9-billion-014525870.html
Hong Kong banks face 'very weak' outlook as coronavirus bites, with HSBC strategy in spotlight, analysts say As Hong Kong's biggest banks prepare to report their 2019 results beginning next week, investors will be closely watching to see how HSBC Holdings and its peers expect the coronavirus outbreak to hit their bottom lines this year. The early signs are worrisome as the health crisis hurts local businesses and consumers in an economy already wrecked by months of anti-government protests last year. Banking sector revenue is expected to be "very weak" in the first half as the viral outbreak cools loan growth and cuts into fee income, according to Morgan Stanley. The city's biggest lenders, including currency-issuing banks Bank of China (Hong Kong), HSBC and Standard Chartered, have announced plans to allow mortgage holders and struggling small businesses to make interest-only payments on loans and several have said they would waive late fees on credit card payments by consumers facing financial difficulty. "Various parts of economic activity have slowed down fairly sharply over the last few weeks, following a contraction in 2019," Morgan Stanley analysts Anil Agarwal and Irene Zhou said in a February 11 research report. "Unless the economy recovers quickly, we expect to see fairly elevated credit costs in 2020." Investors is likely to dwell on this risk when banks present earnings, they said, especially whether the lenders build the current coronavirus-related slowdown into their cost assumptions. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hong-kong-banks-face-very-093000692.html
HSBC extends Hong Kong travel ban to March 16 - memo LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - HSBC has extended restrictions on staff travelling to Hong Kong until March 16 amid the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Monday. The bank also said it is maintaining an outright ban on all travel to mainland China. HSBC said exceptions to the Hong Kong travel ban would require approval from a senior manager. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-extends-hong-kong-travel-113255869.html
HSBC's Shares in Hong Kong Slumps 2.5% as 2019 Pre-tax Profit Misses Estimates Investing.com - HSBC Holdings PLC (HK:0005), Europe’s largest bank, announced on Tuesday that its 2019 pre-tax profit slumped 32.9% to $13.35 billion. The bank said the profit drop was a result of a one-off goodwill impairment of $7.3 billion, mainly relating to its investment banking and commercial banking businesses in Europe. Analysts previously expected the bank’s pre-tax profits in 2019 to largely match the $19.89 billion figure from a year earlier. HSBC's revenue for the year was $56.1 billion, while earnings per share was $0.30. The bank added that it will “continue to monitor the recent coronavirus outbreak, which is causing economic disruption in Hong Kong and mainland China and may impact performance in 2020.” The bank derived almost half of its revenue and nearly 90% of its profits from Asia in 2018, with much of that coming from Hong Kong. HSBC’s shares in Hong Kong slumped 2.5% to HK$57.90 by 1:06 AM ET (05:05 GMT). The Bank has a dual primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbcs-shares-hong-kong-slumps-002200622.html
HSBC Seeks Revamp With 35,000 Staff Cuts in Quinn ‘Endgame’ HSBC Holdings Plc is set to slash about 35,000 staff from its workforce and is taking $7.3 billion of charges in its most dramatic overhaul under Chairman Mark Tucker. The London-based lender is targeting cost reductions of $4.5 billion at underperforming units in the U.S. and Europe. In the meantime, it will accelerate investments in Asia, where the bank draws the bulk of its profit but is grappling with risks from the Hong Kong protests and China’s coronavirus outbreak. The board is also deciding whether the sweeping overhaul announced by interim boss Noel Quinn is enough to secure him the top job permanently. “Parts of our business are not delivering acceptable returns,” Quinn said in the bank’s full-year earnings statement on Tuesday. Quinn, who is also exiting several business lines, also said staff numbers could drop by 15% within the next three years. “We are looking at an endgame of closer to 200,000,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg. The cutbacks will extend into parts of HSBC’s European and U.S. investment banking businesses, particularly in fixed income. In the U.S., assets linked to its trading operations will be nearly halved under the new plan. HSBC is also scaling bank its retail network by 30%. The shares fell more than 5% in London trading, the most in three years and the biggest drop among Europe’s banks. HSBC also suspended share buybacks for 2020 and 2021, when most of the restructuring will occur. The fresh strategy makes sense, but is “on the conservative side,” Alan Higgins, chief investment officer of Coutts & Co., said on Bloomberg television. The lender will bolster its investment banking units in Asia and the Middle East. Questions have mounted over HSBC’s relatively poor returns given its exposure to many of the world’s fastest-growing economies, particularly China. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-takes-7-3-billion-044010186.html
HSBC targets the globally mobile with $1.4 trillion wealth business HSBC <HSBA.L> plans to invest heavily in its newly combined retail and private banking business as it targets internationally minded customers in markets such as China, the United States and Singapore, the unit's Chief Executive Charlie Nunn told Reuters. Nunn, a former McKinsey consultant who joined HSBC <0005.HK> in 2011, was one of the biggest winners in the banking group's latest management reshuffle, taking control of a division with $1.4 trillion in clients' assets. The plan is to grow in the three major markets where HSBC has scale, namely Britain, Hong Kong and Mexico, focusing on mortgages, wealth and insurance products, and unsecured lending respectively. HSBC will also target wealthier customers who travel or invest often overseas in more than 10 markets such as China where its share is smaller, Nunn said. He was speaking to Reuters in the first interview by a senior HSBC executive since the bank announced plans to cut 35,000 jobs and restructure. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-targets-globally-mobile-1-130241555.html
HSBC sends home 100 London staff, confirms China coronavirus case LONDON/MILAN/HONG KONG (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings PLC has sent home more than 100 staff in London after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus, the first known case at a major company in Europe's main financial hub. The bank also has an employee in China with the virus who is in a stable condition, interim Chief Executive Noel Quinn said in an internal memo seen by Reuters. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-sends-home-100-london-042655209.html
HSBC delays job cuts in face of coronavirus LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC has said it is delaying the "vast majority" of its planned redundancies to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a memo sent to staff seen by Reuters said. "Because of the extraordinary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided to pause, for the time being, the vast majority of redundancies associated with this programme where notices have not already been issued," HSBC CEO Noel Quinn said. "We will also pause external recruitment, other than for a small number of front-line and business critical roles and those already with written offers." Quinn, who was confirmed in the top role earlier this month, had previously planned to cut about 35,000 jobs as part of an overhaul of Europe's largest bank by assets. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-delays-job-cuts-face-134846613.html
Statement on 2019 fourth interim dividend and 2020 ordinary share dividends The Board of HSBC Holdings plc (‘HSBC’) has today received from the Bank of England through the Prudential Regulation Authority (‘PRA’) a written request not to pay, in HSBC's case, the fourth interim dividend in respect of 2019. Similar requests have been made to other UK incorporated banking groups. The Board recognises the current and potential material impact on the global economy as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the important role that HSBC has in helping its customers to manage through the crisis and to have resources to invest when recovery occurs. HSBC has a strong capital, funding and liquidity position; however, there are significant uncertainties in assessing the time period of the pandemic and its impact. The Board has therefore met to discuss the written request from the PRA and, in response to the request, has cancelled the fourth interim dividend of US$0.21 per ordinary share, which was scheduled to be paid on Tuesday, 14 April 2020. The Board regrets the impact this cancellation will have on our shareholders, including our retail shareholders in Hong Kong, the UK and elsewhere. The Board has also decided that until the end of 2020 we will make no quarterly or interim dividend payments or accruals in respect of ordinary shares, or undertake any share buy-backs in respect of ordinary shares. The Board will review the ordinary share dividend policy and payments in respect of 2020 once the full impact of the pandemic is better understood, and economic forecasts for global growth in future years are clearer. These factors will be considered, alongside analysis of our own internal financial projections and modelling. HSBC is committed to supporting customers in the economies in which we serve, in particular in our two home markets of Hong Kong and the UK. In strengthening its ability to support its customers, the Board believes that HSBC will be better placed to grow its business for the long term. HSBC will announce its first quarter 2020 results on Tuesday, 28 April 2020. Group performance has been resilient in the first quarter in difficult economic conditions and, so far, credit performance has held up well. However, as a result of the global impacts of COVID-19, and its impact on interest rates, market levels and the forward economic outlook, we expect reported revenues to be impacted in insurance manufacturing, and credit and funding valuation adjustments in Global Banking & Markets, alongside higher Expected Credit Losses (‘ECL’). https://www.hsbc.com/media/media-re...im-dividend-and-2020-ordinary-share-dividends
HSBC’s Hong Kong shareholders threaten action over dividend halt Retail investors in Hong Kong have threatened legal action against HSBC and will attempt to force the bank to hold an extraordinary general meeting, after it was pressured by UK regulators to cancel its dividend due to the coronavirus crisis. The controversy surrounding the suspension of HSBC’s annual payout to shareholders for the first time in nearly 75 years has again highlighted the lender’s complicated situation in Hong Kong, where it derives most of its profits before tax. Individual HSBC shareholders in the Asian financial hub — ranging from wealthy business people to low-income earners — have banded together in an attempt to reach the threshold of 5 per cent of outstanding shares required to secure an EGM. https://finance.yahoo.com/m/d35621c...tner/feed_headline/us_yahoo/auddev&yptr=yahoo
Fitch Downgrades HSBC to Negative Due to COVID-19 Woes Investing.com - Fitch Ratings has downgraded banking giant HSBC's (HK:0005) outlook in light of deteriorating economic conditions. The ratings agency downgraded HSBC’s outlook from Stable to Negative as it expects the United Kingdom’s GDP to shrink by as much as 4% amid the global economic turbulence unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “The Negative Outlook reflects our view that the economic and financial market fallout from the pandemic creates material downside risks to the main operating environments in which HSBC is active, and to its ability to execute on its strategy and planned restructuring in line with its targets. We also see an increased risk of deterioration in HSBC's asset quality, earnings and capitalization as a result of the disruption, albeit from currently strong levels,” Fitch said in its report. But Fitch did not change the Long-Term Issuer Default Rating from the current ‘A+’. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fitch-downgrades-hsbc-negative-due-002410456.html
Rebel shareholders demand HSBC revive dividend and slash management pay Incensed by HSBC's decision to cancel its dividend at the request of regulators last week, a group of more than 3,000 investors in Hong Kong demanded on Monday that the lender reinstate its final payout for 2019 and instead eliminate compensation for top management for a year. From retirees to large pension funds, cutting the cash dividend has been particularly harsh for Hong Kong investors, who have come to rely on it as a steady source of income. About a third of the bank's shareholders in Hong Kong are retail investors and its shares are a common gift for graduates and newlyweds. Shareholders wiped about US$15 billion off the bank's market capitalisation over three days last week. The bank's shares, however, rose 2.8 per cent to close at HK$38.95 in Hong Kong on Monday. "I bought HSBC shares because it always pays a high dividend," said a shareholder who only gave her surname as Wong at a media briefing on Monday. "I bought 10,000 shares on February 27 after it announced its fourth dividend. But on April 1, it said the payment is cancelled. How can a big bank lie to a small shareholder like me?" Wong, who cried during Monday's press conference, said she owns 20,000 HSBC shares, which would have entitled her to a cash payout of US$4,200 (HK$32,760) had the final interim dividend not been cancelled. HSBC and Standard Chartered, two of the three banks authorised to issue currency in the city, suspended their dividends and share buybacks on April 1 at the request of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), an arm of the Bank of England and their chief regulator. The PRA threatened to use its statutory powers if the UK's biggest banks, including HSBC, did not comply. The group of rebel shareholders, calling itself the HSBC Shareholders Alliance on Facebook, is seeking to convince enough investors to band together to force the company to convene an extraordinary general meeting to consider their demands " they are aiming to attract support from at least 5 per cent of shareholders. The group claims to have already attracted more than 3,000 shareholders, ranging from small investors to family offices and pension funds, who own a combined 2 per cent of the lender's shares worth about HK$10 billion. They want HSBC to pay the final dividend in stock, rather than cash, and eliminate pay for the bank's top executives for a year, as well as add a director representing shareholders on its board. The group is studying ways to protect the rights of shareholders, including taking legal action. Lawmakers called on HSBC to reconsider the decision and pay a scrip dividend, which gives shareholders the option to receive stock instead of cash. "This is a financial scam," said Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, a lawmaker representing the financial sector. Former Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying said mainland and Hong Kong borrowers should boycott the bank as a result of the dividend being cancelled. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rebel-shareholders-demand-hsbc-revive-093000296.html
HSBC Q1 Pre-Tax Profit Declines Y/Y on Coronavirus Woes HSBC Holdings’ HSBC first-quarter 2020 pre-tax profit of $3.2 billion represents a decline of 48% from the prior-year quarter’s reported number. The reduction primarily reflects the adverse impact of the coronavirus outbreak and weakening oil prices. Revenues & Expenses Decline Adjusted total revenues of $13.3 billion decreased 5.8% year over year. Adjusted expenses declined 2.9% from the prior-year quarter to $7.7 billion. The fall was mainly due to lower performance-related pay and reduced discretionary costs. Common equity Tier 1 ratio (transitional) as of Mar 31, 2020, was 14.6%, up from 14.3% as of Mar 31, 2019. Leverage ratio was 5.3%, down from 5.4% at the end of the previous year. Quarterly Performance by Business Lines Retail Banking and Wealth Management: The segment reported $343 million in pre-tax profit, down 84.2% year over year. The decline was due to a fall in revenues. Commercial Banking: The segment reported pre-tax profit of $609 million, down 69.7% from the prior-year quarter. The decline was mainly due to lower revenues. Global Banking and Markets: Pre-tax profit of $995 million for the segment declined 35.2% from the prior-year quarter end. The decrease primarily resulted from lower revenues, partly offset by a decline in operating expenses. Global Private Banking: Pre-tax profit for the segment was $120 million, up 25% from the prior-year quarter’s reported figure. The increase resulted from higher revenues and lower expenses. Corporate Centre: The segment reported pre-tax profit of $1.2 billion compared with $396 million recorded in the prior-year quarter. 2020 Outlook The company projects higher expected credit losses as a result of the virus-induced crisis. Moreover, lower customer activity levels and reduced global interest rates will likely put pressure on revenues. Notably, to partly mitigate the reduction in revenues, the company plans to reduce expenses, while maintaining strategic investments. Restructuring costs are expected to decline year over year. The company expects mid- to high-single-digit growth in risk-weighted assets. Our Viewpoint The company’s initiatives to strengthen digital capabilities globally and improve operating efficiency through further restructuring efforts will go a long way in supporting profitability. However, slow economic growth in Europe, low interest rate environment across the globe and weak loan demand are expected to hamper overall growth to some extent. Moreover, though its initiatives to improve market share will likely support financials, the efforts are expected to increase expenses, going forward. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-q1-pre-tax-profit-134201280.html
HSBC Holdings Plc lost around 200 million in a day of crisis in the gold market, which caused prices to have dramatically diverted
Will HSBC bounce back? Currently, no dividends. Is there growth tied to swearing a blood path to China?
HSBC is not paying dividends this year, so, as a dividend investor i sold my shares after that news. Nevertheless i do have some indirectly via ETF's and Trusts. They will bounce back, they exist more then 150 years and survived noumerous crisises and wars thanks to their corporaten knowledge ....but it will take time .
They have cash reserves from 150 years of profits. Corporate knowledge? More than that. Correctly choosing their political allegiance is what kept them profitable, as Asia has been politically volatile in the past 150 years. Hong Kong passed through how many regimes? The most recent oil trading and gold trading losses were huge. But the bank isn't bankrupt. This pledge of allegiance to China positions HSBC as China's conduit to world banking and business. HSBC will conduct China's proxy business. It's just business. No personal sentiment about human rights. Profit will pour in. Just won't be overnight. Forward outlook is that HSBC gets a piece of China's global financial expansion.
