HSBC 2013 Annual Report Download - page 7

5
Who we are
HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial services
organizations in the world with around 6,300 offices in
75 countries and territories and assets of US$2,671bn.
Throughout our history HSBC has been where
the growth is, connecting customers to opportunities,
enabling businesses to thrive and economies to prosper,
helping people fulfil their hopes and dreams and realize
their ambitions.
HSBC Bank Canada is the leading international bank
in Canada with total assets of $84.3bn at 31 December
2013. Established in 1981 and headquartered in
Vancouver, British Columbia, we have grown
organically and through strategic acquisitions to become
an integrated financial services organization with more
than 150 offices across the country.
No international bank has our Canadian presence
and no domestic bank has our international reach. Our
business model is structured and focussed on helping
companies and individuals do business internationally
with a comprehensive range of financial service, trade
and investment products.
We are a priority market for the HSBC Group, whose
parent company HSBC Holdings is headquartered in
London, UK. HSBC’s international network spans
Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the
Middle East and Africa. Shares in HSBC Holdings are
listed on the London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and
Bermuda stock exchanges. The shares are traded in New
York in the form of American Depositary Receipts.
Through an international network linked by advanced
technology, the HSBC Group provides a comprehensive
range of financial services through four business lines:
Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Commercial
Banking, Global Banking and Markets, and Global
Private Banking.
The bank’s continuous disclosure materials,
including interim and annual filings, are available on
the bank’s website and on the Canadian Securities
Administrators’ web site at www.sedar.com.
Complete financial and operational information for
HSBC Holdings and the HSBC Group can be obtained
from its website, www.hsbc.com, including copies of
HSBC Holdings 2013 Annual Review and its 2013 Annual
Report and Accounts.
Our purpose and strategic priorities
Our purpose
Our purpose is to connect customers to opportunities,
enabling businesses to thrive and economies to prosper,
helping people to fulfil their hopes and realize their
ambitions.
Our strategic priorities
Our strategic goal is to support the HSBC Group to
be regarded as the world’s leading and most respected
international bank. We will achieve this by focusing on
the needs of our customers and the societies we serve,
and thereby deliver long-term sustainable value to all
our various stakeholders.
We have set three interconnected priorities to help us
deliver our strategy. They are:
– grow the business and dividends;
– implement Global Standards; and
– streamline processes and procedures.
Grow the business and dividends
Profit underpins long-term business sustainability and
growing our profit is an integral part of our strategy. The
conditions for creating value and generating profits are
reflected in our business and our global lines of business.
Our business model is based on an international
network connecting and serving the Canadian market.
Our three global lines of business, Commercial
Banking, Global Banking and Markets, as well as Retail
Banking and Wealth Management, are responsible for
developing, implementing and managing their business
propositions consistently across the HSBC Group,
focusing on profitability and efficiency. They set their
strategies within the parameters of the HSBC Group
strategy, are responsible for issuing planning guidance
regarding their businesses, are accountable for their profit
and loss performance, and manage their headcount.
We launched a strategic plan focussed on growing
HSBC’s business in Canada, connecting our customers
with opportunities, with investments committed in all of our
global lines of business, Risk and Compliance functions.