HSBC

HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's fifth largest bank by total assets, with total assets of US$2.67 trillion. It was established in its present form in London in 1991 by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited to act as a new group holding company. The origins of the bank lie mainly in Hong Kong and to a lesser extent in Shanghai, where branches were first opened in 1865. The HSBC name is derived from the initials of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The company was first formally incorporated in 1866. The company continues to see both the United Kingdom and Hong Kong as its "home markets".

HSBC has around 6,600 offices in 80 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America and South America, and around 60 million customers. As of 2014, it was the world's sixth-largest public company, according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.

HSBC Bank (Europe)

HSBC Bank plc is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. HSBC's international network comprises around 7,500 offices in over 80 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.

HSBC Bank plc is one of the four major clearing banks in the United Kingdom and is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings. The business ranges from the traditional High Street roles of personal finance and commercial banking, to private banking, consumer finance as well as corporate and investment banking. Across all brands the bank operates some 1800 sites in the UK.

The UK headquarters of HSBC are at HSBC Tower, 8 Canada Square in the Canary Wharf area of east London. This building is also home to HSBC Group's headquarters, and houses some 8,000 staff over 42 floors.

HSBC Bank Plc is the only one of Britain's big five banks to hold more deposits than loans (loan:deposit ratio of 90%). This has led to the bank being seen as a less risky proposition than the other banks by investors and customers, as it is able to fully fund its own operations. It has also contributed to the company's share price maintaining value throughout the credit crunch, unlike other banks in the market.

HSBC France

HSBC France SA is a subsidiary of HSBC, headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.

It was formed on 1 November 2005 when HSBC rebranded CCF S.A. (Crédit Commercial de France), together with its subsidiaries UBP, Banque de Picardie and Banque Hervet. HSBC had acquired CCF in 2000; the bank changed its name to HSBC S.A. and then to HSBC France.

About half of the former networks of CCF - Union de Banques à Paris, Banque Hervet, Banque de Picardie and Banque de Baecque Beau - now trade as HSBC. This represents a 380 strong network of branches in France with a very strong presence in the Paris region.

Other group operations in France include a significant HSBC Private Bank presence, along with a major Corporate Institutional Banking and Markets operation. The Paris trading floor is the Group's second largest trading floor in Europe. Specific areas of particular expertise and responsibility are the trading of government bonds and euro interest rate derivatives, arranging of corporate cash calls, disintermediated and structured finance and project finance.