Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
This Form 6-K contains certain forward-
looking statements with respect to HSBC’s:
financial condition; results of operations and
business, including the strategic priorities;
financial, investment and capital targets; and
ESG targets, commitments and ambitions
described herein.
Statements that are not historical facts,
including statements about HSBC’s beliefs
and expectations, are forward-looking
statements. Words such as ‘may’, ‘will’,
‘should’, ‘expects’, ‘targets’, ‘anticipates’,
‘intends’, ‘plans’, ‘believes’, ‘seeks’,
‘estimates’, ‘potential’ and ‘reasonably
possible’, or the negative thereof, other
variations thereon or similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking
statements. These statements are based on
current plans, information, data, estimates
and projections, and therefore undue reliance
should not be placed on them. Forward-
looking statements speak only as of the date
they are made. HSBC makes no commitment
to revise or update any forward-looking
statements to reflect events or
circumstances occurring or existing after the
date of any forward-looking statements.
Written and/or oral forward-looking
statements may also be made in the periodic
reports to the US Securities and Exchange
Commission, summary financial statements
to shareholders, offering circulars and
prospectuses, press releases and other
written materials, and in oral statements
made by HSBC’s Directors, officers or
employees to third parties, including financial
analysts.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent
risks and uncertainties. Readers are
cautioned that a number of factors could
cause actual results to differ, in some
instances materially, from those anticipated
or implied in any forward-looking statement.
These include, but are not limited to:
–changes in general economic conditions in
the markets in which we operate, such as
new, continuing or deepening recessions,
prolonged inflationary pressures and
fluctuations in employment levels and the
creditworthiness of customers beyond
those factored into consensus forecasts;
the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-
Hamas war and their impact on global
economies and the markets where HSBC
operates, which could have a material
adverse effect on (among other things) our
financial condition, results of operations,
prospects, liquidity, capital position and
credit ratings; deviations from the market
and economic assumptions that form the
basis for our ECL measurements (including,
without limitation, as a result of the Russia-
Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war,
inflationary pressures, commodity price
changes, and ongoing developments in the
commercial real estate sector in mainland
China); potential changes in HSBC’s
dividend policy; changes and volatility in
foreign exchange rates and interest rates
levels, including the accounting impact
resulting from financial reporting in respect
of hyperinflationary economies; volatility in
equity markets; lack of liquidity in
wholesale funding or capital markets, which
may affect our ability to meet our
obligations under financing facilities or to
fund new loans, investments and
businesses; geopolitical tensions or
diplomatic developments producing social
instability or legal uncertainty, such as the
Russia-Ukraine war or the Israel-Hamas war
(including the continuation and escalation
thereof) and the related imposition of
sanctions and trade restrictions, supply
chain restrictions and disruptions, sustained
increases in energy prices and key
commodity prices, claims of human rights
violations, diplomatic tensions, including
between China and the US, the UK, the EU,
India and other countries, and
developments in Hong Kong and Taiwan,
alongside other potential areas of tension,
which may adversely affect HSBC by
creating regulatory, reputational and market
risks; the efficacy of government,
customer, and HSBC’s actions in managing
and mitigating ESG risks, in particular
climate risk, nature-related risks and human
rights risks, and in supporting the global
transition to net zero carbon emissions,
each of which can impact HSBC both
directly and indirectly through our
customers and which may result in
potential financial and non-financial impacts;
illiquidity and downward price pressure in
national real estate markets; adverse
changes in central banks’ policies with
respect to the provision of liquidity support
to financial markets; heightened market
concerns over sovereign creditworthiness
in over-indebted countries; adverse
changes in the funding status of public or
private defined benefit pensions; societal
shifts in customer financing and investment
needs, including consumer perception as to
the continuing availability of credit;
exposure to counterparty risk, including
third parties using us as a conduit for illegal
activities without our knowledge; the
discontinuation of certain key Ibors and the
transition of the remaining legacy Ibor
contracts to near risk-free benchmark rates,
which continues to expose HSBC to some
financial and non-financial risks; and price
competition in the market segments we
serve;
–changes in government policy and
regulation, including the monetary, interest
rate and other policies of central banks and
other regulatory authorities in the principal
markets in which we operate and the
consequences thereof (including, without
limitation, actions taken as a result of
changes in government following national
elections in the jurisdictions where the
Group operates); initiatives to change the
size, scope of activities and
interconnectedness of financial institutions
in connection with the implementation of
stricter regulation of financial institutions in
key markets worldwide; revised capital and
liquidity benchmarks, which could serve to
deleverage bank balance sheets and lower
returns available from the current business
model and portfolio mix; changes to tax
laws and tax rates applicable to HSBC,
including the imposition of levies or taxes
designed to change business mix and risk
appetite; the practices, pricing or
responsibilities of financial institutions
serving their consumer markets;
expropriation, nationalisation, confiscation
of assets and changes in legislation relating
to foreign ownership; the UK’s relationship
with the EU, which continues to be
characterised by uncertainty and political
disagreement, despite the signing of the
Trade and Cooperation Agreement
between the UK and the EU, particularly
with respect to the potential divergence of
UK and EU law on the regulation of financial
services; changes in government approach
and regulatory treatment in relation to ESG
disclosures and reporting requirements,
and the current lack of a single
standardised regulatory approach to ESG
across all sectors and markets; changes in
UK macroeconomic and fiscal policy, which
may result in fluctuations in the value of the
pound sterling; general changes in
government policy (including, without
limitation, actions taken as a result of
changes in government following national
elections in the jurisdictions where the
Group operates) that may significantly
influence investor decisions; the costs,
effects and outcomes of regulatory
reviews, actions or litigation, including any
additional compliance requirements; and
the effects of competition in the markets
where we operate including increased
competition from non-bank financial
services companies; and
–factors specific to HSBC, including our
success in adequately identifying the risks
we face, such as the incidence of loan
losses or delinquency, and managing those
risks (through account management,
hedging and other techniques); our ability to
achieve our financial, investment, capital
and ESG targets, commitments and
ambitions (including the positions set forth
in our thermal coal phase-out policy and our
energy policy and our targets to reduce our
on-balance sheet financed emissions and,
where applicable, facilitated emissions in
our portfolio of selected high-emitting
sectors), which may result in our failure to
achieve any of the expected benefits of our
strategic priorities; evolving regulatory
requirements and the development of new
technologies, including artificial intelligence,
affecting how we manage model risk;
model limitations or failure, including,
without limitation, the impact that high
inflationary pressures and rising interest
rates have had on the performance and
usage of financial models, which may
require us to hold additional capital, incur
losses and/or use compensating controls,
