HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) is the world’s largest organisation in the field of financial service organisation and the second-largest bank in Europe. It is  headquartered in London. This organisation serves approximately 64 countries and other territories around the globe. It has numerous banking facilities such as personal banking, wealth banking, and global and commercial banking for its customers.

Objective

The main objective of HSBC is to provide its customers from across the globe with distinctive expertise with a quality experience of banking facilities. It focuses on maintaining the highest levels of transparency, integrity, and trustworthiness, and gives a divergent perspective among the investors, stakeholders, customers, and other financial commodities.

History

HSBC commenced operations in 1865 and was established in the region occupied by Britain in Hong Kong. The title of HSBC Limited was acquired in 1989 after its incorporation started in 1866. HSBC was formerly led by Michael Turner, who expanded the business of this organisation across various countries across the globe. Around 1975, H.J. Shen, an ethnic Chinese official, helped incorporate it as a local bank with the help of a new asset of merchant banking. HSBC was registered in the stock market in the form of a holding company, and held shares in the global stock exchange. In 1992, HSBC moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to London as per the guidelines of the regulatory authorities of the United Kingdom. HSBC is widely considered to be a trustworthy financial institution in the Asia-Pacific region (especially in South East and South Asian countries).

Principle of HSBC

HSBC voluntarily adopted the Equator Principles launched in 2003. HSBC acquired the fourth latest iteration of the Equator principle abbreviated as “EP4” in October 2020. This principle followed certain basic follow-ups as mentioned below:

1.   This framework guarantees an amazing environmental climate at the international level along with social standards.
2.   This principle follows a long-term method of banking with sustainable impacts on the financial commodity. It provides revenues extracted from big and complicated projects to the lenders as long-term methods of financing.
3. This principle requires organisations related to the financial community to adhere to the standard of the project-related corporate loans and project-related bridge loans.
4.   The only problem that comes with the Equator principle is the implementation of this principle for the banking operation of the HSBC firm.

HSBC modernisation

HSBC launched the first ATM machine in India in 1987. Around 12 years later, around 1500 ATMs were installed across the country. Such a network was formed by the Indian Bank Association (IBA) in India. HSBC also featured and sustained its reputation in Online/ Digital banking. To provide a better banking environment for customers and to offer instant personal banking solutions, HSBC was among the first banks to provide net banking services. HSBC netbanking is easier, faster, secure, and more reliable than other net banking services. Banking processes like fund transfer, bill payments, e-statements, etc. can be carried out through HSBC netbanking. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of its unique features:

1.   The digital app of HSBC called HSBC India has a physical security feature for securing the personal informative credential from security threats, by generating a security code at the time of logging in.
2. HSBC makes the process of funds transfer to other banks easier through netbanking.
3. It generates e-statements for your bank accounts and debit/credit card on your device quickly.
4.   HSBC netbanking allows customers to redeem their mutual funds online, stop cheques in case of any problem, and order new cheque books with different functions frequently as they need.
5.   It helps in the creation and management of fixed deposits without going to the bank.

Conclusion

This article detailed the many aspects and working of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, provided a glimpse of their work culture, their adoption of Equator Principles, and their advanced netbanking features. The bank shifted its headquarters from HongKong to London. It launched its first ATM machine in India. The bank lays great emphasis on maintaining transparency in all its operations and providing customers with the latest in banking solutions.