Emerging markets and opportunities
Published: 03 July 2010
Emerging markets are at the heart of HSBC's corporate identity. Throughout its history, the HSBC Group has maintained a strong presence in global trade, particularly in India and China, the world's most dynamic emerging markets.
HSBC has been a participant in and a witness to the development of emerging markets for more than a century and a half. It has established branches even in countries that were considered closed, restricted or highly centralised. Over the years, HSBC rose to the status of a respected institution as it worked actively in these markets.
Sensitive to the unique cultures in emerging markets, HSBC has often been the first foreign bank to work in partnership with local businesses. HSBC Amanah was among the first to offer Islamic banking products and has the largest Islamic banking team of any international bank.
In the Group's 2009 Annual Results HSBC Chairman Stephen Green said, "HSBC has reported a pre-tax profit in all three years since the onset of the [global financial] crisis." For 2009, HSBC's underlying performance, excluding the goodwill impairment in 2008, placed pre-tax profit at USD13.3 billion or 56 per cent higher than 2008 figures.
The Bank attributed its resilient performance for 2009 first to its diversified business model, covering different businesses and geographies with a strong foothold in the emerging markets; and secondly to a successful rights issue, demonstrating continued investor confidence.
The Bank is proud of maintaining a record of long-term commitment to host countries, particularly those in the emerging markets. "In Argentina, which was in the midst of the peso crisis 10 years ago, we did not abandon our customers and have remained committed to the market ever since," the Chairman said. "In 2009, our operations there reported their best-ever underlying performance... In mainland China, we are proud of our position as the leading international bank... In Indonesia, we nearly doubled our network to support the growing financial needs of personal and business banking customers... and we launched our SME fund in the United Arab Emirates in January 2010."
In the post-2008 global economy, the regional mix of profits tells the story: Asia was the big money-maker. Europe struggled but benefited from HSBC's strong Global Banking and Markets revenues while Latin America and the Middle East were profitable, despite tougher conditions. US operations continued to be at a loss.
Source: From 2009 Annual Results
HSBC believes its current position of prominence is the result of its commitment to emerging markets since it was founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865.
The outstanding performance of emerging markets is corroborated by business unit statistics, showing the 'emerging markets-led, financing-focused' Global Banking and Markets unit to be the most profitable among the Bank's operations - with over half of its underlying profits being homegrown in emerging markets.
Source: From 2009 Annual Results
Managing risk
HSBC can help you identify and better manage your risk exposure and minimise the impact of market volatility on your company.
Learn more about managing risks.
Emerging markets research
Emerging markets research is a key area of focus for Global Research and brings together all aspects of research across Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Learn more about our emerging markets research.
Articles
Brazil
Chile
China
Egypt
Czech Republic
India
Indonesia
Mexico
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Russia
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
UAE
Vietnam
