Hongkong and Shanghai Bank

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

HSBC Main Building (HSBC headquarters), Central, Hong Kong
Formerly called	The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank
Type	Public Limited Company (Origin: Body Corporate formed by Special Ordinance)
Industry	Financial Services
Founded	3 March 1865; 152 years ago (1865-03-03) in Hong Kong Incorporated on 14 August 1866; 150 years ago (1866-08-14)
Founder	Sir Thomas Sutherland (1834–1922)
Headquarters	HSBC Main Building, Central, Hong Kong
Key people	Stuart Gulliver (Chairman) Peter Wong (Chief Executive)
Products	Retail banking, commercial banking, investment banking, mortgage loans, private banking, wealth management, credit cards, finance and insurance
Operating income	HK$232,738 million (2016) HK$235,945 million (2015)
Net income	HK$162,598 million (2016) HK$178,440 million (2015)
Total assets	HK$7,548.952 billion (2016) HK$6,953.683 billion (2015)
Total equity	HK$679,136 million (2016) HK$635,886 million (2015)
Parent	HSBC Group
Subsidiaries	Main subsidiaries: Hang Seng Bank Limited, HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited, HSBC Broking Services (Asia) Limited, HSBC Global Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited, HSBC Insurance (Asia-Pacific) Holdings Limited, HSBC Private Equity (Asia) Limited, HSBC Securities (Asia) Limited
Website	www.hsbc.com.hk

HSBC (Chinese: 滙豐; Jyutping: wui6 fung1), officially known as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (Chinese: 香港上海滙豐銀行有限公司), is the largest bank in Hong Kong, and operates branches and offices throughout the Asia Pacific region, and in other countries around the world. It is also one of the three commercial banks licensed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to issue banknotes for the Hong Kong dollar.

"The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank" was established in British Hong Kong in 1865 and was incorporated as "The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation" in 1866, and has been based in Hong Kong (although now as a subsidiary) ever since. It was renamed "The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited" in 1989. It is the founding member of the HSBC Group of Banks and Companies, since 1990, is the namesake and one of the leading subsidiaries of the London-based HSBC Holdings PLC. The company's business ranges from the traditional High Street roles of retail banking, commercial banking, corporate banking to investment banking, private banking and global banking.

After the British established Hong Kong as a 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 British India, and the rest of the British Empire, and also the rest of Europe, of goods, produces and merchandises of all kinds, but especially of opium, cultivated in or transited (re-exported) through the Raj, and to that end, they organised amongst themselves and formed The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong (March 1865), and in Shanghai a one-month later.