HSBC Group Business Principles and Values
The HSBC Group is committed to five Core Business Principles:
• outstanding customer service;
• effective and efficient operations;
• strong capital and liquidity;
• prudent lending policy;
• strict expense discipline;
through loyal and committed employees who make lasting customer relationships and international teamwork easier to achieve.
HSBC also operates according to certain Key Business Values:
• the highest personal standards of integrity at all levels;
• commitment to truth and fair dealing;
• hands-on management at all levels;
• openly esteemed commitment to quality and competence;
• a minimum of bureaucracy;
• fast decisions and implementation;
• putting the team’s interests ahead of the individual's;
• the appropriate delegation of authority with accountability;
• fair and objective employer;
• a diverse team underpinned by a meritocratic approach to recruitment/selection/promotion;
• a commitment to complying with the spirit and letter of all laws and regulations wherever we conduct our business;
• the exercise of corporate social responsibility through detailed assessments of lending proposals and investments, the promotion of good environmental practice and sustainable development, and commitment to the welfare and development of each local community.
HSBC’s reputation is founded on adherence to these principles and values. All actions taken by a member of the HSBC Group or staff member on behalf of a Group company should conform with them.
Additionally, we have Codes of Conduct for staff in all operations.
Customer Care and Business Integrity
Looking after our customers is basic to all our business relationships. We promise only what we can deliver and we strive never to mislead our customers.
We have strict rules against staff accepting from customers any material personal benefits, including gifts, favours, services, loans or fees, and we actively discourage customers from offering any personal benefits to our staff. Similarly, staff are not to engage in bribery in any form by offering any gift, money, loan, fee, reward or other advantage as an inducement in connection with the conduct of the Group’s business.
In conducting business with due skill, care and diligence, HSBC seeks always to comply with both the letter and the spirit of relevant laws, rules, regulations, codes and standards of good market practice.
We address any irregularities that arise promptly, we seek to resolve them promptly in a way that protects our reputation and minimises financial loss. We believe in transparency in our financial and regulatory reporting, with swift disclosure of any breaches.
We co-operate with supervisors and regulators to attain and maintain the highest operating standards to safeguard the interests of our customers, our shareholders, our staff and the communities where we operate.
HSBC supports the policies set out in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. We have comprehensive and rigorous anti-money laundering standards and controls in place and strict policies and procedures to counter bribery and corruption. We work closely with the appropriate authorities in each of our markets where, in all cases, our controls meet with, or exceed, local requirements.
We are a founding member of the Wolfsberg Group, an association of 12 international banks that aims to develop financial services industry standards for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing policies. We also support the policies and procedures of the Vienna and Strasbourg Conventions against drug-trafficking.
Responsible Financing
Wherever we operate, we play a constructive, responsible role in aligning our objectives with those of the local community.
HSBC believes that personal freedom flourishes best in an environment of economic growth and opportunity. We support free trade and investment because they are avenues for the creation of jobs and for the improvement of living standards. Every country and territory where we operate has its own character, history and aspirations; a single standard for their progress would be difficult to devise.
HSBC retains a pioneering spirit, promoting international trade and constructive engagement through its business activities.
Social, ethical and environmental risks are considered as part of our normal credit assessment and approval process for lending.
We avoid undertaking certain types of business, such as the financing of weapons manufacture and sales, dealing with countries subject to international sanctions, and transactions that might be used to evade tax or to launder earnings from crime. We have always taken a cautious approach to the financing of defence equipment and, some time ago, decided to withdraw progressively from this type of business and in a manner which recognised our proper responsibilities to our customers.
In industries with the potential for major adverse social, ethical or environmental impacts, we will advance credit only after an additional and detailed assessment of these impacts to ensure our involvement in any such transaction meets our internal standards and external commitments to sustainability.
We have also adopted the Equator Principles, a set of voluntary guidelines that covers the environmental and social impacts of project financing. We will not provide loans directly to projects where the borrower will not, or is unable to, comply with either the Equator Principles or our own environmental guidelines, whichever carries the higher standard.
Members of Staff
The welfare of our staff is a fundamental concern.
We recruit and promote employees solely on merit and suitability; we encourage staff to realise their full potential. While we recognise and reward individual performance, we foster teamwork in our working environment as well as encouraging initiative and innovation.
Our members of staff receive, and must abide by, Codes of Conduct which call for honesty, integrity, openness and teamwork for the benefit of customers, shareholders and the communities we serve.
We are committed to providing equality of opportunity to all staff, regardless of sex, race, nationality, age, disability, ethnic origin, religion or status, on the basis of merit and suitability.
We believe in maintaining effective employee relations, and we are willing to work with and through recognised staff representative bodies.
The Environment
HSBC believes that sound business management should take account of the effects that business has on the environment, with a view to minimising detrimental impact. The pursuit of economic growth and a healthy environment are linked; governments, business and individuals all have a role to play in achieving sustainable development.
HSBC was among the original signatories of the United Nations Environment Programme Statement by Financial Institutions, and we have instituted an environmental management system to minimise the direct impacts of our operations and consumption of resources. We recognise that we also have a role to play in helping to minimise indirect impacts which might result from our lending and we seek to engage with our customers to develop good environmental practices in sensitive areas and industries.
We support environmental projects in different parts of the world, including local scientific research, conservation, recycling and ecological programmes. Our staff are involved as volunteers in some of these programmes.
We publish a separate brochure explaining our Environmental Policy.
HSBC in the Community
We support the well-being of the communities where we operate through philanthropy and sponsorship.
Education, particularly for those less fortunate in society, and the environment are our two principal causes. Members of the HSBC Group are expected to allocate 75 per cent of their donations and non-commercial sponsorship budgets to these activities, with the greater emphasis on educational initiatives which include:
• primary and secondary education for the disadvantaged and support for schools in economically deprived areas;
• programmes to promote international understanding among young people;
• activities that promote interest in and sensitivity to other cultures;
• language programmes, particularly the learning of Asian languages;
• programmes that encourage youth to have a greater understanding of business and finance.
These activities are supplemented by direct support for other good causes. We encourage our staff to help raise money for charity and to do volunteer work.
Implementation
These principles and values, which apply throughout the Group’s operations, were affirmed by the Board of Directors of HSBC Holdings plc at its meeting on 26 November 2004. Senior managers of Group companies are responsible for ensuring conformity with these principles and values through employee awareness programmes, Codes of Conduct and operating procedures.
