Discover the bank's origins and its development into one of the world’s largest financial services organisations. Explore the five eras below to uncover 160 years of great stories.
Era 1 - 1865 - 1899
Foundation and branching out
Era 2 - 1900 - 1949
Growth and challenges
Era 3 - 1950 - 1979
New opportunities
Era 4 - 1980 - 1999
Global reach
Era 5 - 2000 - now
A new century
Our first Mong Kok branch had opened in 1948, but soon proved to small to cope with demand as the Hong Kong neighbourhood boomed with new manufacturing firms. We unveil a new eight-storey office six years later and are soon responsible for more than half of the territory's industrial loans. In the 1960s, we develop a strong retail business and rapidly expand our branch network across Hong Kong.
A busy street in post-war Hong Kong
The Mong Kok branch decorated for the bank's centenary in 1965
Ian Bradford, Mong Kok Manager (centre, left) raising a glass with clients at a dinner
We make our first acquisitions with the purchase of The British Bank of the Middle East (now HSBC Bank Middle East) and the Mercantile Bank in India. Through these mergers, our network grows from 45 branches in 18 countries to 121 branches in 33 countries.
Map showing HSBC's global reach following the acquisitions in 1959
Mercantile Bank's office in Bombay (Mumbai), which still serves our customers in the city today
The Kuwait office of The British Bank of the Middle East (BBME, now HSBC Bank Middle East). BBME had been founded in 1889. It was the first provider of modern banking services in Kuwait in 1942 and Dubai in 1946
We install our first computer in the Hong Kong head office, paving the way for the computerisation of all accounts. This is soon followed by the unveiling of our first cash dispensers in 1971 and our ATM system, powered by the Electronic Teller Card (ETC), in 1980.
Advertisement for HSBC's new adventure into computerisation
The KDP10 data processor in use during the early 1960s
Illustration of an early example of a mainframe computer
Wardley Limited – named after our first head office premises – is launched to serve as a wholly-owned merchant banking subsidiary. It's contributing 7 per cent of profits by the end of the decade and laying the foundations for our Corporate and Institutional Banking business today. Wardley later develops its own series of subsidiaries in financial centres throughout Asia. HSBC is becoming an increasingly complex Group of companies as the century progresses.
Image from a Wardley brochure
Extract from a brochure illustrating our expanding lines of business
Front cover image from the Wardley Limited annual report for 1979
China re-opens to foreign investment in the late 1970s. We've enjoyed a continuous presence in the country since 1865 and are well-positioned to support the development. We establish a new office in Guangzhou in 1979 and another in Beijing the following year.
Cover of a brochure illustrating business opportunities in China in the 1980s
Staff working in our Shanghai office in 1983
Map of the Shenzhen region in China, published in an HSBC brochure in 1982
