Contents
General Elections 2
Strengths 2
Weaknesses 3
Opportunities 3
Threats 3
TOWS Key Issues (Figure 1) 4
Appendix 5
Bibliography 6

This report aims to produce an overview regarding the current corporate state of HSBC holdings plc, regarding potential future plans to both maximise on successes and recover from failures.

General Elections

HSBC would be placed in a vulnerable position if Britain ultimately pulls out of the E.U. Britain would be relinquishing a very powerful and necessary position on the international stage that in its absence would deter from its current solid and prosperous state of on-going economic growth that is so critical for HSBC. Britain´s economy owes its unprecedented growth, to where household disposable income is back to pre-2010 levels, to the services industry, such as the banking sector, being the origin of these past decades of growth1. If Britain combines this success with continuing being a member of the E.U, it will produce the allure necessary to attract global business and continue to grow the services industry which HSBC would greatly benefit from. In order to remain on course, Britain must neglect going with Ed Miliband, and continue with a conservative-led government that continues to lower corporation tax with intent to remain relevant for businesses seeking investment in the services industry, and to avoid any hindrance to the on-going financial recovery that is a constant threat to the banking sector and would be put at risk with Miliband´s policies of more spending, more borrowing and higher taxes.
Strengths

HSBC thrives upon its core competencies of an extensive international network of over 6,300 offices in 75 countries. This is matched by a very diverse revenue mix that offers a multitude of financial services including retail banking, wealth management and global banking among others. These two attributes combined allow reducing revenue volatility for the bank as it benefits from capturing global trends. HSBC relishes in Britain´s economic stability as it´s GDP has increased by 2.8% in 2014 and also thrives on the fact that Britain continues to be a significant influence and member of multinational banking organizations such as the Monetary Fund and World Bank. HSBC has additionally acquired a strong inflow of customer deposits from wholesale markets which has vastly improved the group´s liquidity position.

Weaknesses

Profit expansion has been compromised for the group; however, as its ability to contain operating expenses has deteriorated as the ratio of expenses to revenue has increased unfavourably from £23,000 in FY2009 to £26,000 in FY2013. The SwissLeaks controversy has done a vast amount of harm to the company´s image and is only one of many regulatory compliance penalties that have led to financial losses. The release of information regarding offshore Geneva accounts of HSBC clients has provided information regarding the group´s involvement in tax evasion schemes. Unfortunately SwissLeaks arrived at a time when the group was already amidst paying other heavy fines of up to $1.9 billion in FY2012 regarding similar compliance issues such as anti-money laundering sanctions. Opportunities

HSBC has been making strategic closures and disposals of business such as USA Inc. HSBC Finance and HSBC Technology and Services to other corporations which will potentially aid the group in driving revenue growth by in the future functioning under more specific operations. The group remains very present in Britain in an attempt to harness the positive outlook of the European retail lending market. The European retail lending market grew by 1.8% with a value of $9,156 billion in 2012 and is forecasted to be worth $10,814 billion in 20172. The largest segment of the retail lending market is Mortgage Lending which is a primary function of HSBC and accounts for 85% of the market´s total value. Additionally, Britain accounts for 19.8% of the