HSBC Refocuses on Its Strength in Asia

HSBC’s strengths are its positions in the U.K. and Hong Kong banking systems. As China, Hong Kong, and Singapore are important pools of wealth and growing trade corridors, the bank’s pivot toward Asia, which makes up about 75% of pretax profit, makes strategic sense. The focus is on deepening relationships with customers across its existing geographies, and leverage the bank’s international network in bringing in new clients. According to the bank, its banking network addresses 90% of global trade and generates about 40% of the bank’s revenue. The broad geographic nature of its business model results in reduced pretax profit volatility versus peers, as evident during the global financial crisis, but comes with higher capital requirements.