HSBC operates via a number of legal entities and branches across the world. Read more about our structure, including our major entities and holding companies.
Our principal holding company, HSBC Holdings plc, is a public limited company incorporated in England.
Headquartered in London, HSBC is listed on the London, Hong Kong, New York and Bermuda stock exchanges. The entities that form the HSBC Group provide a comprehensive range of financial services.
HSBC has a matrixed management structure. The Group is organised firstly according to its global businesses and global support functions. These are underpinned by our legal entity structure, which is made up by a global network of locally incorporated subsidiary companies that provide oversight at a country and regional level. A simplified version of this is shown below.
Each of these subsidiaries has a board and management structure that reflects its activities and complexity. To strengthen accountability and flows of information, we have seven principal subsidiaries that take responsibility for the oversight of Group companies in their region. They are in turn accountable to the board of HSBC Holdings plc.
HSBC’s structure is also influenced by the regulatory framework that applies to it. Many of the Group’s entities are locally regulated.
While HSBC Holdings plc is not itself a regulated entity, it owns – directly or indirectly – a number of operating subsidiaries that are regulated and supervised as banks, insurance companies or securities firms in the countries and territories where they operate. In addition, the HSBC Group is subject to the consolidated supervision of the UK Prudential Regulation Authority.
Resolution and debt issuance
Like other major banks, the Group is required by regulators to have a ‘recovery plan’. This sets out the actions the Group would take if it were to come under severe financial stress. HSBC is arranged as a ‘multiple point of entry’ group for resolution purposes.
As a consequence, a number of holding companies across the Group have been nominated as resolution entities. These are HSBC Holdings plc, HSBC North America Holdings Inc and HSBC Asia Holdings Ltd. These entities issue regulatory capital to meet their local requirements, although only HSBC Holdings plc issues debt to external investors. Both HSBC North America Holdings Inc and HSBC Asia Holdings Ltd issue regulatory debt to HSBC Holdings plc as the creditor.
