HSBC Holdings plc

HSBC Holdings PLC logo
Type	Holding company[1][2] (Public limited company)
Traded as	LSE: HSBA NYSE: HBC Euronext: HSB SEHK: 005 BSX: HSBC.BH
Industry	Banking, Financial services
Founded	1991[3] (HSBC Holdings plc) 1865[4] (The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited)
Founder(s)	Sir Thomas Sutherland
Headquarters	8 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom[5]
Number of locations	Approximately 7,200 offices across 85 countries & territories[6]
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Douglas Flint (Chairman) Stuart Gulliver (Chief Executive)
Products	Credit cards, Consumer banking, corporate banking, finance and insurance, investment banking, mortgage loans, private banking, wealth management
Revenue	US$ 107.804 billion (2012)[7]
Operating income	US$ 045.215 billion (2012)[7]
Profit	US$ 016.944 billion (2012)[7]
Total assets	US$ 02.637 trillion (2012)[7]
Total equity	US$ 171.189 billion (2012)[7]
Employees	300000 (2012)[7]
Subsidiaries	HSBC Bank plc The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation HSBC GLT India HSBC Bank USA HSBC Bank Middle East HSBC Mexico HSBC Bank Brazil HSBC Finance
Website	www.hsbc.com

HSBC Holdings plc (commonly known as HSBC) is a British multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.^[5] As of 2011^[update] it was the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.^[8]

HSBC is a universal bank and is organised within four business groups: Commercial Banking; Global Banking and Markets (investment banking); Retail Banking and Wealth Management (retail banking and consumer finance); and Global Private Banking.^[9] It has around 7,200 offices in 85 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America and around 89 million customers.^[6] As of 31 March 2012, it had total assets of $2.637 trillion, of which roughly half were in Europe, a quarter in the Americas and a quarter in Asia.^[7]

HSBC Holdings plc was founded in London in 1991 by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to act as a new group holding company^[1][2] and to enable the acquisition of UK-based Midland Bank.^[3] The origins of the bank lie in Hong Kong and Shanghai, where branches were first opened in 1865.^[4] Today, HSBC remains the largest bank in Hong Kong, and recent expansion in mainland China, where it is now the largest international bank, has returned it to that part of its roots.^[6][10]

HSBC has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. As of December 2011 it had a market capitalisation of £87.4 billion, the third-largest of any company listed on the London Stock Exchange.^[11] It has secondary listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (where it is a constituent of the Hang Seng Index), the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext Paris and the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

History[link]

Origins to 2000[link]

The HSBC Building in Shanghai, the headquarters of the Shanghai branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1923 to 1955

HSBC (abbreviation origin: the "Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation") was founded in the former British colony of Hong Kong (on 3 March 1865) and Shanghai (one month later) by Scotsman Sir Thomas Sutherland (1834–1922). HSBC Holdings plc established in 1990 became the parent company to The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in preparation for its purchase of Midland Bank in the United Kingdom and restructuring of ownership domicile for the impending transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China. HSBC Holdings acquisition of Midland Bank gave HSBC Group a substantial market presence in the United Kingdom which was completed in 1992. As part of the takeover conditions for the purchase of Midland Bank, HSBC Holdings plc was required to relocate its world headquarters from Hong Kong to London in 1993.

Major acquisitions in South America started with the purchase of the Banco Bamerindus of Brazil for $1bn in March 1997^[12] and the acquisition of Roberts SA de Inversiones of Argentina for $600m in May 1997.^[13]

In 1980, HSBC acquired a 51% shareholding in Marine Midland Bank, which it extended to full ownership in 1987. In May 1999, HSBC continued its US acquisitions with the purchase of Republic National Bank of New York for $10.3bn.^[14]

2000 to 2010[link]

The HSBC Main Building in Hong Kong, which was designed by Norman Foster and completed in 1985.

Expansion into Continental Europe took place in April 2000 with the acquisition of Crédit Commercial de France, a large French bank for £6.6bn.^[15]

In July 2001 HSBC bought Demirbank, an insolvent Turkish bank.^[16] In July 2002, Arthur Andersen announced that HSBC USA, Inc., through a new subsidiary, Wealth and Tax Advisory Services USA Inc. (WTAS), would purchase a portion of Andersen's tax practice. The new HSBC Private Client Services Group would serve the wealth and tax advisory needs of high net worth individuals. Then in August 2002 HSBC acquired Grupo Financiero Bital, SA de CV, Mexico's third largest retail bank for $1.1bn.^[17]

In November 2002 HSBC expanded further in the United States. Under the chairmanship of Sir John Bond, it spent £9 billion (US$15.5 billion) to acquire Household Finance Corporation (HFC), a US credit card issuer and subprime lender.^[18] In a 2003 cover story, The Banker noted "when banking historians look back, they may conclude that [it] was the deal of the first decade of the 21st century".^[19] Under the new name of HSBC Finance, the division was the second largest subprime lender in the US.^[20]

The new headquarters of HSBC Holdings at 8 Canada Square, London officially opened in April 2003.^[21]

Then in September 2003 HSBC bought Polski Kredyt Bank SA of Poland for $7.8m.^[22]

In June 2004 HSBC expanded into China buying 19.9% of the Bank of Communications of Shanghai.^[23]

In the United Kingdom HSBC acquired Marks & Spencer Retail Financial Services Holdings Ltd for £763m in December 2004.^[24]

Acquisitions in 2005 included Metris Inc, a US credit card issuer for $1.6bn in August^[25] and 70.1% of Dar es Salaam Investment Bank of Iraq in October.^[26]

In April 2006 HSBC bought the 90 branches in Argentina of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro for $155m.^[27]

In December 2007 HSBC acquired The Chinese Bank in Taiwan.^[28]

In May 2008 HSBC acquired IL&FS Investment, an Indian retail broking firm.^[29]

In March 2009, HSBC announced that it would shut down the branch network of its HSBC Finance arm in the U.S., leading to nearly 6,000 job losses and leaving only the credit card business to continue operating.^[30][31]

Chairman Stephen Green stated, "HSBC has a reputation for telling it as it is. With the benefit of hindsight, this is an acquisition we wish we had not undertaken."^[32] According to analyst Colin Morton, "the takeover was an absolute disaster".^[31][33]

Although it was at the centre of the subprime storm, the wider group has weathered the financial crisis of 2007–2010 better than other global banks. According to Bloomberg, "HSBC is one of world’s strongest banks by some measures".^[34] When HM Treasury required all UK banks to increase their capital in October 2007, the group transferred £750 million to London within hours, and announced that it had just lent £4 billion to other UK banks.^[35] In March 2009, it announced that it had made US$9.3bn of profit in 2008 and announced a £12.5bn (US$17.7bn; HK$138bn) rights issue to enable it to buy other banks that were struggling to survive.^[36] However, uncertainty over the rights' issue's implications for institutional investors caused volatility in the Hong Kong stock market: on 9 March 2009 HSBC's share price fell 24.14%, with 12 million shares sold in the last few seconds of trading.^[37]

2010 to present[link]

8 Canada Square, the world headquarters of HSBC in Canary Wharf, London.

On 11 May 2011 the new chief executive Stuart Gulliver announced that HSBCs would refocus its business strategy and that a large-scale retrenchment of operations, particularly in respect of the retail sector, was planned. HSBC would no longer seek to be 'the world's local bank', as costs associated with this were spiralling and US$3.5bn needed to be saved by 2013, with the aim of bringing overheads down from 55% of revenues to 48%. In 2010, then-chairman Stephen Green planned to depart HSBC to accept a government appointment in the Trade Ministry. Group Chief Executive Michael Geoghegan was expected to become the next chairman. However, while many current and former senior employees supported the tradition of promoting the chief executive to chairman, many shareholders instead pushed for an external candidate.^[38][39] HSBC's board of directors had reportedly been split over the succession planning, and investors were alarmed that this row would damage the company.^[40]

On 23 September 2010, Geoghegan announced he would step down as chief executive of HSBC.^[41] He was succeeded as chief executive of HSBC by Stuart Gulliver, while Green was succeeded as Chairman by Douglas Flint; Flint was serving as HSBC's finance director (chief financial officer). August 2011: Further to CEO Stuart Gulliver's plan to cut $3.5 billion in costs over the next 2 years, HSBC announced that it will cut 25,000 jobs and exit from 20 countries by 2013 in addition to 5,000 job- cuts announced earlier in the year. The consumer banking division of HSBC will focus on the UK, Hong Kong, high-growth markets such as Mexico, Singapore, Turkey and Brazil, and smaller countries where it has a leading market share.^[42][43] According to Reuters, Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver told the media, "There will be further job cuts. There will be something like 25,000 roles eliminated between now and the end of 2013."^[44][45]

In August 2011 "to align our U.S. business with our global network and meet the local and international needs of domestic and overseas clients", HSBC agreed to sell 195 branches in New York and Connecticut to First Niagara Financial Group Inc for around $1 billion and announced the closure of 13 branches in Connecticut and New Jersey. The rest of HSBC's U.S. network will only be about half from a total 470 branches before divestments.^[46] On 9 August 2011, Capital One Financial Corp. agreed to acquire HSBC's U.S. credit card business for $2.6 billion,^[47] netting HSBC Holdings an estimated after-tax profit of $2.4 billion.^[48] In September it was announced that HSBC seeks to sell its general insurance business for around $1 billion.

Operations[link]

A map showing the countries of the world in which HSBC currently has operations

As of 2 April 2008, according to Forbes magazine, HSBC was the fourth largest bank in the world in terms of assets ($2,348.98 billion), the second largest in terms of sales ($146.50 billion) and the largest in terms of market value ($180.81 billion). It was also the most profitable bank in the world with $19.13 billion in net income in 2007 (compared to Citigroup's $3.62 billion and Bank of America's $14.98 billion in the same period).^[49] Since the end of 2005, HSBC has been rated the largest banking group in the world by Tier 1 capital.^[50] In February 2008, HSBC was named the world's most valuable banking brand by The Banker magazine.^[51][52]

HSBC is known in banking circles for its conservative and risk-averse approach to business – a company tradition going back to the 19th century.^[53] In its technical management, however, HSBC has recently suffered a series of headline-making incidents in which some customer data were allegedly leaked or simply went missing. Although the consequences turned out to be small, the embarrassing effect on the group's image did not go unnoticed.^[54]

The HSBC Group has a significant presence in each of the world's major financial markets, with the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe each representing around one third of the business. HSBC is the largest bank in Hong Kong and prints most of Hong Kong's local currency in its own name.

HSBC is currently audited by one of the Big Four auditors, KPMG. The HSBC and KPMG headquarters are adjacent to one another, with KPMG occupying 15 Canada Square.^[55] HSBC Main Building, Hong Kong where the CEO office is, also adjacent to KPMG office located in Prince's Building.

Head office[link]

HSBC's world headquarters is at 8 Canada Square in Canary Wharf, London.^[56] On Friday 25 September 2009 the company stated that while its head office would remain in London and the main regulator would continue to be the Financial Services Authority, the CEO would move from London to Hong Kong beginning on February 2010.^[57]

Principal subsidiaries[link]

Asia Pacific[link]

• HSBC Bank Australia Limited
• HSBC Bank (China) Company Ltd
• The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd
• Hang Seng Bank Ltd
• HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad

Europe[link]

• HSBC Bank Armenia
• HSBC France
• HSBC Trinkaus und Burkhardt AG
• HSBC Bank International - the offshore banking arm of the HSBC Group, focusing on providing offshore solutions and cross border services to expatriates and migrants.^[58] It provides a full range of multi-currency personal banking services to a range of customer segments, including a full internet banking and telephone banking service. Sometimes referred to as "HSBC Offshore", the business also offers independent financial planning, and has representative offices all over the world, often working alongside local HSBC operations in those regions. HSBC Bank International originated from the business started by Midland Bank and is based in the Channel Islands with further operations on the Isle of Man. Its operations in the Channel Islands are centred around its headquarters on the seafront in St Helier, Jersey.
• HSBC Bank Malta plc
• HSBC Private Bank (UK) Ltd
• HSBC Bank plc

Latin America[link]

• HSBC Bank Argentina SA
• HSBC Bank Brazil SA
• HSBC Bank Colombia SA
• HSBC Mexico SA

Middle East and North Africa[link]

• HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd
• HSBC Bank Egypt SAE
• The Saudi British Bank

North America[link]

• HSBC Bank Canada
• HSBC Bank USA Inc
• HSBC Finance Corporation

Principal business groups and divisions[link]

The headquarters of HSBC Brazil in Curitiba.

HSBC organises its customer-facing activities within four business groups: Commercial Banking; Global Banking and Markets (investment banking); Personal Financial Services (retail banking and consumer finance); and Global Private Banking.^[9]

Commercial Banking[link]

HSBC provides financial services to small, medium-sized and middle-market enterprises. The group has more than 3 million of such customers, including sole proprietors, partnerships, clubs and associations, incorporated businesses and publicly quoted companies.

Global Banking & Markets[link]

Global Banking and Markets is the investment banking arm of HSBC. It provides investment banking and financing solutions for corporate and institutional clients, including corporate banking, investment banking, trade services, payments and cash management, and leveraged acquisition finance. It provides services in credit and rates, foreign exchange, money markets and securities services, in addition to asset management services.

Global Banking and Markets has offices in more than 60 countries and territories worldwide, and describes itself as "emerging markets-led and financing-focused".^[59]

Global Banking and Markets is currently being led by former fixed-income trader Samir Assaf, who was promoted from global head of markets on 10 December 2010.^[60]

Global Private Banking[link]

The main London office of HSBC Private Bank in St James's.

HSBC Private Bank is the marketing name for the private banking business conducted by the principal private banking subsidiaries of the HSBC Group worldwide. HSBC Private Bank, together with the private banking activities of HSBC Trinkaus, known collectively as Group Private Banking, provides services to high net worth individuals and their families through 93 locations in some 42 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. As of December 2007, profits before tax were US$1,511 million and combined client assets under management were US$494 billion.

In September 2008, HSBC announced that it would combine its two Swiss private banks under one brand name in 2009, with HSBC Guyerzeller and HSBC Private Bank to be merged into one legal entity, under the newly appointed CEO of HSBC Private Bank, Alexandre Zeller.^[61]

Retail Banking and Wealth Management[link]

HSBC provides more than 100 million customers worldwide with a full range of personal financial services, including current and savings accounts, mortgage loans, car financing, insurance, credit cards, loans, pensions and investments.

Retail Banking and Wealth Management was previously referred to as Personal Financial Services. This rename was announced during HSBC's 2011 Investor Day.^[62]

Group Service Centres[link]

As a cost-saving measure HSBC is offshoring processing work to lower cost economies in order to reduce the cost of providing services in developed countries. These locations take on work such as data processing and customer service, but also internal software engineering at Pune (India), Hyderabad (India), Vishakhapatnam (India), Kolkata (India), Guangzhou (China), Curitiba (Brazil) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).

Chief Operating Officer Alan Jebson said in March 2005 that he would be very surprised if fewer than 25,000 people were working in the centres over the next three years: “I don’t have a precise target but I would be surprised if we had less than 15 (global service centres) in three years’ time.” He went on to say that each centre cost the bank from $20m to $30m to set up, but that for every job moved the bank saves about $20,000 (£10,400).^[64]

Trade unions, particularly in the US and UK, blame these centres for job losses in developed countries, and also for the effective imposition of wage caps on their members.^[64]

Currently, HSBC operates centres out of eight countries, including Brazil (Curitiba), The Czech Republic (Ostrava), India (Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Visakhapatnam, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Pune), China (Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Poland (Krakow), Sri Lanka (Rajagiriya) and Philippines (Manila). The Malta trial for a UK high value call centre has resulted in a growing operation that country. An option under consideration is reported to be a processing centre in Vietnam to access the French skills of the population and therefore cut costs in the bank’s French operations.

On 27 June 2006, HSBC reported that a "small number" of customers had suffered from fraud totalling £233,000 after an employee at the Bangalore call centre supplied confidential customer information to fraudsters.^[65]

Global product lines[link]

An HSBC Premier Centre in Tokyo, Japan.

HSBC Advance[link]

HSBC Advance^[66] is the group's product aimed at working professionals. The exact benefits and qualifications vary depending on country, but typically require a transfer of Salary of USD 1,500 or more every month or Maintain USD 25,000 of deposits in a Savings/Current Account or investments. Advantages may vary depending on country, such as day-to-day banking services including but not limited to a Platinum Credit Card, Advance ATM Card, Current Account and Savings Account. Protection plans and Financial Planning Services. A HSBC Advance customer enables the customer to open accounts in another country and transfer their credit history.

HSBC Direct[link]

HSBC Direct is a telephone/online direct banking operation which attracts customers through mortgages, accounts and savings. It was first launched in the USA^[67] in November 2005 and is based on HSBC's 'First Direct' subsidiary in Britain which was launched in the 1980s. The service is now also available in Canada,^[68] Taiwan,^[69] South Korea^[70] and France. Poland is launching business direct in September 2009. In the US, HSBC Direct is now part of HSBC Advance^[71]

HSBCnet[link]

HSBCnet^[72] is a global service that caters to local business needs by offering specialised functionality for different regions worldwide.

The system provides access to transaction banking functionality – ranging from payments and cash management to trade services features – as well as to research and analytical content from HSBC. It also includes foreign exchange and money markets trading functionality.

The system is used widely by HSBC's high-end corporate and institutional clients served variously by the bank's global banking and markets, commercial banking and global transaction banking divisions.

HSBCnet is also the brand under which HSBC markets its global e-commerce proposition to its corporate and institutional clients.

HSBC Premier[link]

HSBC Premier^[73] is the group's premium financial services product. The exact benefits and qualification criteria vary depending on country, but typically require deposits and investments of at least $100,000, £50,000, or €100,000. Alternatively those who have an individual annual income of at least £100,000 paid into their HSBC Premier Bank Account and are a customer of the bank's Independent Financial Advisory Service. Customers have a dedicated Premier Relationship Manager, global 24 hour access to call centres, free banking services and preferential rates. A HSBC Premier customer receives the HSBC Premier services in all countries that offer HSBC Premier, without having to meet that country's qualifying criteria.

Logo[link]

The group announced in November 1999 that the HSBC brand and the hexagon symbol would be adopted as the unified brand in all the markets where HSBC operates, with the aim of enhancing recognition of the group and its values by customers, shareholders and staff throughout the world.

The hexagon symbol was originally adopted by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation as its logo in 1983. It was developed from the bank’s house flag, a white rectangle divided diagonally to produce a red hourglass shape. Like many other Hong Kong company flags that originated in the 19th century, and because of its founder's nationality, the design was based on the cross of Saint Andrew. The logo was designed by graphic artist Henry Steiner.^[74]

Sponsorships[link]

The 2004 Jaguar car, being driven by Mark Webber.

Having sponsored the Jaguar Racing Formula One team since the days of Stewart Grand Prix, HSBC ended its relationship with the sport when Red Bull purchased Jaguar Racing from Ford. HSBC has now switched its focus to golf, taking title sponsorship of events such as the HSBC World Match Play Championship, HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship (now defunct), HSBC Champions and HSBC Women's Champions.

In football HSBC sponsors French club AS Monaco and Mexican club C.F. Pachuca, and in rugby league, HSBC sponsors Telford Raiders in the Rugby League Conference. In Australia, HSBC sponsors the New South Wales Waratahs rugby team in Super Rugby rugby union competition, as well as the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League.

HSBC’s other sponsorships are mainly in the area of education, health and the environment. In November 2006, HSBC announced a $5 million partnership with SOS Children as part of Future First.^[75]

HSBC sponsors the Great Canadian Geography Challenge, which has had around 2 million participants in the past 12 years. Since 2001, HSBC has sponsored the Celebration of Light, an annual musical fireworks competition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 2007 HSBC announced it would be a sponsor of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames. HSBC has also sponsored a professional gaming team that was disbanded late 2007. HSBC is also committed to local sponsorships, the Mandarins Cricket Club being one example.

HSBC sponsored the 2009 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa.^[76]

HSBC is the official banking partner of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, providing banking facilities on site and renaming the Road to Wimbledon junior event, as The HSBC Road to Wimbledon National 14 and Under Challenge.^[77]

HSBC was named the 'Official Banking Partner' of The Open Championship, in a five year deal announced in 2010.^[78]

See also[link]

	London portal
	Companies portal

• HSBC Buildings
• List of banks in the United Kingdom
• List of buildings and structures in Hong Kong
• Primary dealers

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: HSBC

• Official website
• HSBC Private Bank

Business data

• HSBC Holdings plc at Google Finance
• HSBC Holdings plc at Yahoo! Finance
• HSBC Holdings plc at Hoover's
• HSBC Holdings plc at Reuters
• HSBC Holdings plc SEC filings at EDGAR Online
• HSBC Holdings plc SEC filings at the Securities and Exchange Commission

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Stuart Gulliver
Stuart Gulliver at the World Economic Forum on East Asia 2011, Jakarta, Indonesia[1]
Born	1959 (age 52–53)[2]
Residence	London (Personal) Hong Kong (Official)[3][4]
Nationality	British
Education	M.J.[5]
Alma mater	Oxford University [6]
Occupation	Banker
Years active	1980–Present
Employer	HSBC
Title	Executive Director and Group Chief Executive

Stuart Gulliver (born 1959- )^[2][6] is a British banking business executive. He is widely known as the Group Chief Executive of HSBC, a position he has held since January 1, 2011.

Gulliver was born in England and holds a Masters in Jurisprudence from Oxford University. He officially lives in Hong Kong^[7] and has a primary residence in Kensington, London.^[3]

Early life and education[link]

He was born in the UK in 1959. His father Philip was a legal executive, while his mother Jean was personal assistant to the senior engineer at a local dockyard. Gulliver went to grammar school in Plymouth, Devon.^[3]

An avid boxer while at Oxford, where he studied law and received a Masters degree in Jurisprudence. In a 2011 interview to Financial Times, Gulliver recalls his humble upbringing and his childhood aspiration and said that – “I wanted to be a barrister, but my parents couldn’t afford it.^[3]”

Professional career[link]

Early Career and HSBC : 1980 - 2010[link]

In 1980, an HSBC executive serving in India urged him to join HSBC's elite international officer program,^[3][8][9] as it was called at the time, which paved the way for his banking career. Gulliver rose through the ranks in the bank’s Global Banking and Markets division^[8] and held a number of key roles in the Group’s operations worldwide, including postings in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and the United Arab Emirates.

During the 1990s, Gulliver built HSBC’s investment bank in Hong Kong and turned HSBC's Asian markets business into one of the group's major money-spinners, even in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.^[9] He served as the Head of Treasury and Capital Markets in Asia-Pacific from 1996 to 2002.

He was appointed a Group General Manager in 2000, and later, he led the Global Markets division from 2002 to 2003. He moved back to London in early 2003 to co-head the Group's Global corporate, investment banking and markets division along with John Studzinski. In March 2004, he joined the Group Management Board as a Group Managing Director. Upon the departure of John Studzinski in 2006, he was appointed Chief Executive of Global Banking and Markets and HSBC Global Asset Management in May 2006.

He was a director of HSBC North America Holdings Inc. until 7 May 2009; of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited from 15 February 2010 to 1 May 2011; of HSBC Latin America Holdings (UK) Limited until 4 December 2009.^[10]

He is Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG (since September 2007; member since May 2006); non-Executive Chairman and a Director of HSBC France since January 2009; and Chairman of HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) SA since February 2010 (Director since September 2007).^[11]

He was made a director of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in September 2006 and has been an Executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc since May 2008.^[12]

Appointed Group CEO of HSBC till date: 2010 -[link]

On 7 September 2010, Stephen Green,^[13][14] the then Group Chairman of HSBC, announced that he would step down, in order to accept the invitation of the UK Prime Minister to become Minister of State for Trade and Investment in January 2011. As a result of Stephen Green's decision to step down earlier than planned, Michael Geoghegan, the then Group CEO of HSBC, announced his retirement^[15][16] and Stuart Gulliver, who led HSBC's investment-banking division since 2006, was appointed as the new Group CEO of HSBC Holdings plc, effective January 1, 2011. He was also appointed the Chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc.^{[17][18][19][20]}

Pay controversy[link]

In 2010, he received a bonus of £9 million in stock, with base pay of £826,000.

Personal life[link]

His primary residence is in Kensington, London,^[3] where he lives with his Australian-born wife, Mandy.

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Stuart T Gulliver, Chairman, Europe, Middle East and Global Businesses, HSBC Holdings plc"

Jerome Robert Corsi (born August 31, 1946) is an American author, political commentator and conspiracy theorist^[1][2] best known for his two New York Times bestselling books: The Obama Nation and Unfit for Command (with co-author John O'Neill). Both books, the former written in 2008 and the latter in 2004, attacked Democratic presidential candidates and were criticized for including numerous inaccuracies.^[3][4][5]

In other books and columns for conservative websites such as WorldNetDaily and Human Events, Corsi has discussed topics that are considered conspiracy theories in some circles, such as the alleged plans for a North American Government, the theory that President Barack Obama is not an American citizen;^[6] criticism of the United States government for allegedly covering up information about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,^[7] promoting the Abiogenic hypothesis of the origin of oil (arguing that oil is produced from chemical reactions in the Earth, in contrast to the general consensus of the scientific community that oil is produced from organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae), and alleged United States support of Iran in its attempts to develop nuclear weapons.^[8][9][10]

Early life[link]

Jerome Corsi was born in East Cleveland, Ohio^{[citation needed]}, to Louis E. Corsi, a union public relations director, and Alice Corsi, née Hanlon. He married Joy Dugan on May 8, 1970. The marriage ended in divorce. He married Monica Corsi in 1991.^[11]

He graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1964. He earned a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in 1968, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 1972.^[12]

Career[link]

In 1972 Corsi researched the political protests around the 1972 Democratic and Republican National Conventions in Miami Beach, and the involvement of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.^[13] His research was then published by the Lemberg Center for the Study of Violence (Brandeis University, 1974).

Corsi went into banking and finance in 1981.^[14] In 1995 Corsi helped launch a mutual fund to invest in formerly Communist Poland after the fall of the Soviet Union, which eventually lost $1.2 million, much of it from a group of about 20 Minnesota investors.^[15][16] Some of the investors blamed the organizers, including Corsi, for their investment in the former Communist country. Two investors sued Corsi and his partners on the basis that the organizers had given their personal guarantee backing up the investment, and won judgments against them.^[15] They did not collect from Corsi because, as one investor claimed, the money "had been moved into his wife's name ... There was nothing to get out of him."^[15] The FBI found no basis for bringing criminal charges.^[15] Until his 2004 book, Corsi was a financial services marketing specialist.^[17]

In January 2005, Corsi told the Boston Herald that he planned to bid for John Kerry's Senate seat in Massachusetts in 2008 as a Republican or Independent candidate.^{[citation needed]} He later said his wife had "vetoed" this plan. Then Corsi stated "Howard Phillips of the Constitution Party asked me to consider seriously running for president in 2008 and I am doing so."^[18] He then agreed to be nominated at the Constitution Party National Convention,^[19][20] but he dropped out in July 2007.^[21]

Writings and conspiracy theories[link]

Corsi has written about a variety of subjects, including Democratic politicians and conspiracy theories.^[22] According to The Guardian, Corsi — who is Catholic — has been accused by the American press "of being anti-Islamic, anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic and homophobic, and of exploiting racial prejudices in an attempt to 'scare white America'."^[23] In 2004, Corsi wrote a critical biography of then Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry called Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. In 2005 he published Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians, which claimed Democratic politicians are corrupted by Iranian money and are helping the Ulemas, who seek nuclear weapons, in Tehran.^[24] That same year he co-authored Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil (2005) with Craig R. Smith.

In 2006, he co-authored Showdown with Nuclear Iran: Radical Islam's Messianic Mission to Destroy Israel and Cripple the United States with Michael D. Evans. In August 2006 he published Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders with Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist. This book criticized President George W. Bush's border protection policies, accusing him of furthering plans to create a North American Union.^[25] In May 2006, Corsi co-wrote the book Rebuilding America with Kenneth Blackwell, then Ohio secretary of state and a Republican candidate for Governor of Ohio.^[26]

In March 2008 Corsi reported in WorldNetDaily that a "Muslim terrorist group with ties to criminal drug networks and al-Qaida" has given "strong support" to John McCain.^[27]

In 2007 Corsi wrote that he himself is not a Republican and complained that "the Republican Party is controlled by what used to be called the 'Rockefeller Wing'."^[28] In addition, Corsi called for the impeachment of George W. Bush."^[29][30] On August 15th, 2008, Corsi endorsed Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin, who had campaigned to reopen the investigation into the September 11, 2001 attacks in support of the 9/11 Truth Movement.^[31]

Corsi has also referred to Martin Luther King, Jr. as a "shakedown artist".^[32][33][34]

Factcheck.org called Corsi's The Obama Nation "a mishmash of unsupported conjecture, half-truths, logical fallacies and outright falsehoods."^[35] Obama's campaign has criticized Corsi as a "bigoted fringe author" for these claims, as well as "the bizarre, conspiratorial views that Jerome Corsi has advocated in his broader work."^{[9][10][36][37]} Corsi has also appeared on INN World Report, a news program on Free Speech TV, to advance his claims.

[edit] Unfit for Command

In August 2004, Corsi's Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, with attributed coauthor John O'Neill, was published by Regnery Publishing. The book sold more than 1.2 million copies.

The main theme of Corsi's portion of the book was to criticize Kerry's antiwar activities after returning from Vietnam, and to dispute many of his and other antiwar activists' assertions that U.S. soldiers had committed war crimes and atrocities, burned down villages, and murdered innocent civilians in Vietnam. Kerry gained notoriety, the book argues, by bringing to light such horrific events as the My Lai Massacre, thus damaging the image of the U.S. Military in the Winter Soldier hearings.

The other theme of the book was that Kerry's four month tour in Vietnam had been marked by cowardice under fire and fraudulently obtaining medals. In that regard, the book contained statements by some veterans of the Vietnam War who served with John Kerry on Swift Boats, several of whom executed affidavits in support of their claims; these claims were repudiated by other veterans who served with Kerry and often were disproven by outside sources, including the Navy's official records.^[38]

After controversial comments Corsi had made at the Free Republic website were publicized by the Media Matters for America website, John O'Neill claimed that Corsi was not actually a co-author of the book Unfit for Command, but rather was "simply an editor."^[39][40] Nevertheless, O'Neill described Corsi as the book's "coauthor" in a 2007 letter to the New York Times.^[41] Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler describe Corsi's efforts in writing the book, referring to him as one of its "authors," in their book To Set the Record Straight.^[42]

In 2007 Corsi, along with Bill Gertz, Lt. Col. Robert (Buzz) Patterson, Joel Mowbray and Richard Miniter, sued Regnery's parent company, Eagle Publishing, claiming the company "orchestrate[d] and participate[d] in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme to divert book sales away from retail outlets and to wholly owned subsidiary organizations within the Eagle conglomerate."^[43] The suit was dismissed on June 30, 2008.^[44]

[edit] The Obama Nation

Corsi's book The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality was released on August 1, 2008, and is critical of Barack Obama and his candidacy for President. In response, the Obama campaign issued a 40 page rebuttal called "Unfit for Publication" on his website FightTheSmears.com, alleging factual errors.^[45] Corsi proclaimed the Obama report a confession that the most serious charges against Obama were true, because (he said) the campaign report cited minor issues, responded to charges different from those that Corsi had made, and implicitly confirmed many of Corsi's allegations.^[46][47]

According to various American news sources, many of the accusations made in the book are unsubstantiated, misleading or inaccurate.^{[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]}

According to The New York Times, "Significant parts of the book, whose subtitle is 'Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality,' have been challenged in the days since its debut on Aug. 1."^[53] The book made its first appearance on The Times' best-sellers list for nonfiction hardcovers at No. 1.^[56] Corsi conducted over 100 interviews promoting the book,^[53] including a scheduled appearance^[57][58] on The Political Cesspool, a white supremacist^[59][60] radio talk show. He previously appeared on the show on July 20,^[61] but he canceled his August 17 appearance because of a change in "travel plans".^[62] In August 2008, Corsi appeared on Alex Jones' radio show and promoted The Obama Nation.^[63]

Paul Waldman criticized The Obama Nation as "filled with falsehoods."^[64] In a debate with Corsi on Larry King Live, Waldman accused him of using baseless innuendo as a tactic to 'smear' Obama.^[65]

On October 7, 2008, Corsi and his media consultant Tim Bueler were detained by immigration authorities in Kenya while doing further research related to the book, allegedly for failure to have a work permit. Corsi had scheduled a press conference to announce new research proving that Obama had raised a million dollars for the election campaign of Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga, and had helped run Odinga's campaign as a strategist, including setting the stage for the campaign of violence and bloodshed that had brought Odinga to power after a disputed election. The meeting was interrupted by Kenyan immigration officials when they detained Corsi.^[66][67] Corsi was eventually deported.^[68][69]

[edit] Black Gold Stranglehold

Corsi has also promoted the concept of abiotic oil production (as opposed to the theory for formation of petroleum from biological matter);^[70] the idea that oil is naturally produced underground through chemical processes under extreme heat and pressure, rather than by the conversion of biological material.^[71] In his book Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil, Corsi questions the "truism that oil is fossil fuel."^[72] As oil wells have drilled ever deeper, and discovered oil at 30,000 feet beneath the surface (5½ miles) it becomes clear, Corsi argues, that no dinosaur remains were buried 30,000 feet under ground.^[73] Corsi argues that oil men have long noticed that oil wells pumped dry sometimes "refill" with oil, suggesting a much deeper source for the oil, rising up under pressure to refill oil wells. Meanwhile, scientists have detected the presence of "fossil fuels" or hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon Titan.^[74] Furthermore, Corsi argues, science has never put forward a satisfactory explanation for how a dinosaur can turn into oil. Oil is not, in fact, formed from dinosaurs, but from fossilized plant remains.^[75]

Corsi suggests that the world buys into scientific views of petroleum formation because it would be "disastrous — both to oil companies and to politicians in office" in terms of pricing to admit that oil is not a scarce commodity.^[76] The abiotic oil theory is in conflict with scientific consensus.^[77]

On the inside flap of the book:

Jerome R. Corsi and Craig R. Smith expose the fraudulent science that has been sold to the American people in order to enslave them — the belief that oil is a fossil fuel and a finite resource. On the contrary, this book presents authoritative research, currently known mostly in the scientific community, that oil is not a product of decaying dinosaurs and prehistoric forests. Rather, it is a natural product of the Earth. The scientific evidence cited by Corsi and Smith suggests that oil is constantly being produced by the Earth, far below the planet's surface, and that it is brought to attainable depths by the centrifugal forces of the Earth's rotation.^[78]

[edit] Atomic Iran

In 2005 Corsi's Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians was published by WND Books with an introduction by Craig R. Smith. In the book he claims Democratic politicians are corrupted by Iranian money and are helping the mullahs, who seek nuclear weapons, in Tehran.^[24] Corsi accused an aide for John Kerry of helping the mullahs, who strongly rejected the claim.^[24] To promote the book, Corsi appeared in conservative venues such as on Hannity & Colmes on April 8, 2005, at the Heritage Foundation,^[79] and on WEJEW Radio.^[80]