HSBC 2015 Annual Report Download - page 23

Adjusted costs
($bn)
36.2
34.6
2015
2014
Guangdong loans
($bn)
4.3
4.1
2015
2014
Investment in Global Standards
($bn)
1.5
0.9
2015
2014
Investment in Asia
We are in a leading position to capture
growth in Asia. Our priorities include
accelerating our business growth in
China’s Pearl River Delta (‘PRD’), and
developing our Asset Management
and Insurance businesses to benefit
from Asia’s growing middle class. We
also aim to grow our business in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(‘ASEAN’) region as trade and investment
flows increase in key markets such as
Singapore and Malaysia, and we are
expanding our Indonesian business.
Pearl River Delta
We are developing our business in the
PRD, in Guangdong, the Chinese province
bordering Hong Kong. The province’s
increasingly sophisticated economy and
links with Hong Kong provide us with a
unique opportunity to create a full-scale
banking business there.
In 2015, we appointed a CEO for
Guangdong and continued to build
infrastructure and recruit staff. We grew
our RBWM mortgage business and
established a branch of HSBC Life
Insurance in Guangzhou. We also agreed
to establish a majority-owned joint-
venture securities company in Qianhai,
Shenzhen, which, if approved by
regulators, will potentially allow us
to engage in the full spectrum of the
securities business in mainland China.
Global Standards –
safeguarding against
financial crime
We are committed to implementing
the most effective global standards
to combat financial crime. We are
therefore putting in place robust controls
aimed at enabling us to understand
more about our customers, what they
do, and where and why they do it. This
comprehensive approach is designed
to help us detect, deter, and prevent
financial crime.
Enhancing infrastructure
and systems
We are rolling out improved systems
and infrastructure to manage financial
crime risk, and improved transaction
monitoring and sanctions screening
capabilities.
Expanding capabilities
We are strengthening our financial
crime detection and investigation
capabilities within our business teams,
including delivering enhanced training
to appropriate staff.
While significant work remains to be
done, we continue to make progress
towards putting in place a robust and
sustainable anti-money laundering
and sanctions compliance programme.
Cost savings
We continue to take action to manage
our costs better. We are growing our
digital capabilities and realising efficiency
gains through automating and re-
engineering processes. We are
also simplifying our technology and
reshaping our global functions.
Our cost saving plans and tighter cost
controls have slowed cost growth in
2015. Costs in the second half of the
year were in line with the first half.
Increased efficiency
We removed the requirement for nearly
3,000 roles by automating and eliminating
processes in 2015. We completed over
13% of our target to remove 750 software
applications by the end of 2017. We are
optimising our branch network, and we
closed more than 130 branches in 2015
in six of our largest retail banking markets.
We also introduced a new IT operating
model that achieved a 4% cost reduction
in the IT run rate compared with 2014.
Using technology to
enhance productivity
We increased productivity in our UK
branches through online customer
support and appointment booking. In
CMB, we simplified our processes and
are using technology better to open
new accounts globally. We significantly
reduced the time taken to approve
personal loans from an average of 20
days to two days, and in some cases
instantly, in four of our priority markets.
Reduction in manual payments
(% reduced through automation)
25%
HSBC branches in Guangdong
64
Global Standards employee training
Over 2.1m hours
Strategic ReportFinancial Review Corporate Governance Financial Statements Shareholder Information
HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
21
Progress on selected strategic actions