Frequently asked questions

1. HSBC makes enormous profits.  What are you doing to share your success with others?
2. Levels of debt are becoming unsustainable in some of your major markets. Are you allowing people to carry more debt than they can bear?
3. How do you explain the salaries paid to senior executives?
4. What are you doing to help protect your customers from fraud and e-crime?
5. There do not seem to be many women in senior management or on your Board. Why?
6. Why are you transferring work from the developed countries to Asia?
7. Banks do not have a good reputation when it comes to customer service. What are you doing about that?
8. Are you financing the export of armaments?
9. Does HSBC have a code of good ethical conduct?

Q1. HSBC makes enormous profits.  What are you doing to share your success with others?

HSBC is a commercial organisation and its governing objective is to provide a satisfactory return on its shareholders' capital.  Yet, at the same time HSBC recognises that it has wider responsibilities and it knows that it can only achieve its business objectives by balancing its commercial duties with its broader obligations to society.  HSBC's primary role in society is to conduct its business with the highest standards of professionalism, and with absolute integrity.  HSBC is determined to play its full part in the life of the communities it serves and is proud of its contribution to wealth creation.  We should never forget that HSBC's commercial success helps to pay for the retirement income of millions of people around the world.  HSBC's duty to its customers is to look after their financial affairs with expertise, fairness and transparency.  Its duty to its staff is to provide a safe and pleasant place to work, competitive terms and conditions and opportunities for advancement in an international meritocracy.  At the same time, HSBC believes in sharing its success with the less fortunate members of society because economic success and social deprivation are incompatible in the long term, because the public increasingly expects major companies to support the community, and because, simply, HSBC has always believed it is the right thing to do.  However, balancing these different responsibilities is sometimes challenging.

There is nothing new in how HSBC sees its role.  Its strong sense of responsibility runs throughout its history.  The tradition of 'capitalism with a conscience' can be traced back to HSBC's earliest days. We have identified education for the underprivileged and environmental sustainability as the two main planks of our philanthropic policies.  Of course, we know we cannot help all those in need, and we will never feel that we have done enough.  But we are determined to build on the efforts of the past and to do even more in the future.

Q2. Levels of debt are becoming unsustainable in some of your major markets. Are you allowing people to carry more debt than they can bear?

One of the fundamental reasons for a bank’s existence – and a primary source of our income – is to enable people to borrow money in order to pay for improvements in their lives or livelihoods. As one of the world’s leading banks, we are also one of the leading lenders. Inherent in every loan is an element of risk. To the bank, there is the risk of default; to the customer the risk of being unable to repay the loan, incurring further charges and, perhaps where several loans are involved, becoming overburdened with debt.

We take very seriously our responsibilities to manage our lending prudently, both for our customers and for our shareholders. All of our conduct stems from the belief that, if the customer does not benefit, neither do we. For example, in the UK we were the first major bank to share positive as well negative credit data with our competitors. This means that other potential lenders will be better able to assess and individual’s ability to repay debt.

Q3. How do you explain the salaries paid to senior executives?

It is HSBC's policy to pay its staff fairly, whatever their role within the company, from the newest recruit to the Group Chairman. We have to be aware of the pressures of the employment market and to be able to attract and retain the best people we can get. 

We pay market rates at all levels of the organisation and in all the countries and territories where we operate, and we recognise that we are operating in an international and highly competitive marketplace for human talent.  As far as Executive Directors and other top management are concerned, our policy has been to match base salary at around the mid-market for UK and European banks and to match bonus and long-term incentive awards against the upper quartile of UK and European banks.  

Of course, we are aware of the sensitivities surrounding the levels of executive pay in the world's large corporations and we respond by being as transparent as possible in our own remuneration policy.  We accept that compared to a great many people, HSBC's executives are well paid. 

Q4. What are you doing to help protect your customers from fraud and e-crime?

Increased customer awareness is essential in the battle against fraud, and HSBC continues to invest in initiatives to help customers understand the risks and avoid becoming victims of fraud. We publish advice about preventing e-crime on this website and on our local language web sites around the world, outlining how HSBC helps to protect customers from e-crime, and the steps that our customers should take to protect themselves.

As well as developing internal systems and controls, we continue to collaborate with peer organisations, industry bodies and local regulators to introduce new anti-fraud solutions which help to protect our customers. In this way, we are also able to keep abreast of emerging risks, sharing information so that the HSBC Group as a whole can prepare itself to face the fraud threats of the future.

Q5. There do not seem to be many women in senior management or on your Board. Why?

HSBC believes in diversity based on merit, and we recruit employees solely on merit and suitability. It is true that we have relatively few women in senior managerial positions. This reflects the social and employment practices of the past, because HSBC tends to recruit people for long-term careers.

However, we do have more women on our Board than have most of the world’s largest companies. We are committed to providing equality of opportunity to all staff, regardless of gender, race, nationality, ethnic origin, age, disability, religion or status. Exactly the same principles apply to senior management and Board appointments. Individuals are promoted or invited to become Directors not because they are men or women, but because they are the best people for the job.

Please visit our embracing diversity page for further information.

Q6. Why are you transferring work from the developed countries to Asia?

HSBC is an international company operating in a global economy. We must remain competitive to be successful. We perform different tasks in various locations around the world according to where it is most efficient for us to do so. This means, for example, that in the UK we do work for our offices in the Middle East, in Turkey, in Malta and elsewhere in Europe. Similarly, we have staff in Canada, the UK, the United States and Hong Kong working on systems used throughout the world.

Equally, the UK, the United States, Canada and many other parts of our worldwide operations do part of their work in our Group Service Centres in India, Malaysia, China, Philippines and Sri Lanka. This allows HSBC to remain competitive so we can provide top quality service for our customers, reasonable returns to our shareholders, and job security for our employees. If we did not operate in this way, our competitors would eventually take away our business.

From another perspective, HSBC also has obligations to the communities we serve around the world. We believe creating jobs in emerging markets makes a positive contribution. Our staff working around the world enjoy attractive terms and conditions and a working environment that is of the highest international standard.

Please visit our global resourcing page for further information.

Q7. Banks do not have a good reputation when it comes to customer service. What are you doing about that?

There is a tendency to see all banks as the same in terms of performance and customer service. Nevertheless, there is good evidence from the product and service awards that we win in many parts of the world, and from customer surveys, that HSBC is trying to be different and is succeeding. However, we are not complacent and continue to focus strongly on defining HSBC through the quality of service we give to our customers. We remain strongly committed to putting our customers at the heart of everything we do and, in so doing, create long-term mutual value.

Q8. Are you financing the export of armaments?

We have always taken a cautious approach to the financing of defence equipment sales by applying strict internal controls and ensuring that all necessary government licences and approvals relating to the transaction have been in place. However, we decided some time ago to withdraw from this type of business progressively and in a manner which recognises our proper responsibilities to our customers. As a result, we have made our customers and potential customers aware that we have no appetite for lending for the manufacture and sale of military hardware.

Q9. Does HSBC have a code of good ethical conduct?

Yes. HSBC has long espoused high ethical standards in the conduct of its business. Honesty, integrity and a strong sense of responsibility have been our hallmarks in dealings with our stakeholders. Our Group Standards Manual, an internal document, sets out the company’s policies and procedures in this vital area.

During 2004, we updated our statement of our principles and values, first published in 1988. We also support a number of internationally accepted standards of conduct including the Global Sullivan Principles and the United Nations Global Compact. In addition, we are members of the Institute of Business Ethics and of the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International (UK).