The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

Type	Public (Non-Listed) Limited Company (Origin: Body Corporate formed by Special Ordinance)
Industry	Financial Services
Founded	Established on 3 March 1865; 151 years ago (1865-03-03) in Hong Kong (as The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank) Incorporated on 14 August 1866; 150 years ago (1866-08-14)(as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation)
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
Revenue	78,337 Mrd USD
Number of employees	216,000 (includes subsidiaries) (2013)
Parent	HSBC Holdings plc
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

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. It is the largest bank in Hong Kong, and operates branches and offices throughout the Asia Pacific region, and in other countries around the world.

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.

The founder, Thomas Sutherland of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, wanted a bank operating on "sound Scottish banking principles." Still, the original location of the bank was considered crucial and the founders chose Wardley House in Hong Kong since the construction was based on some of the best feng shui in Colonial Hong Kong. The bank initially leased its premises for HK$500 a month in 1864.