History

• The bank traces its roots to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, founded in 1865. Founded in Hong Kong when that territory was under British rule, the bank served as the leading financial services organization for British companies and individuals doing business in China and the Asia-Pacific region.
  
  

Founding

• In 1990, a company known as HSBC Holdings was founded in London. The purpose was of this organization was to transfer the bank's headquarters to England, in advance of the transfer of control over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China, which at the time permitted no private banking companies. The transfer was complete after HSBC took control of Midland Bank, and in 1993 transferred its headquarters to London.
  
  

Expansion

• HSBC remained a major bank in Asia and also expanded its operations to the United States with the purchase of Republic National Bank during the 1990s. HSBC also moved into Europe, Mexico and South America during this period. HSBC established its first offices on mainland China in 2004 with the partial acquisition of the Bank of Communications, a major Shanghai bank.
  
  

Regional Banks

• HSBC operates large regional banking companies, such as HSBC Bank USA, Inc., which serves as head offices for each major geographical region. These offices serve as a parent company for smaller local companies founded with the HSBC name, such as HSBC Bank Argentina and HSBC France.
  
  

Subprime Crisis

• Through one of its finance companies, HSBC was one of the largest subprime mortgage lender in the United States before the collapse of the country's housing market in 2007-2008. The company closed its subprime lending operations and took a huge loss on the operation. By some measures, however, HSBC remains the largest and most profitable bank in the world.