HSBC Holdings plc FY2012 results

Statement by Douglas Flint, Group Chairman

2012 was a year of considerable progress in delivering on the strategic priorities which the Board has tasked management to address. Our decision to focus on reshaping the Group through targeted disposals and closures and internal reorganisation is paying dividends. It is bringing greater clarity and focus and is delivering sustainable cost savings while allowing incremental investment to be available and directed towards the areas of greatest opportunity.

 

This progress is all the more notable given that during 2012, the banking sector, including HSBC, faced continuing and in many ways unprecedented challenges. Banking has been given a huge wake-up call and we are determined to play our part in restoring its reputation and thereby regaining society's trust. Thus our restructuring agenda is not only justified economically but is helping the Group shape its response to the media, the regulatory and political challenges, and societal expectations which, simply put, all revolve around restoring the trust of all stakeholders. From depositors to investors, regulators to employees, public policy makers to consumer lobbyists we need to ensure the business model of banking is fair, transparent, sustainable and meeting its core objective of serving society.

 

Never has it been more important to put the customer first and provide the means and support to help them fulfil their financial aspirations and ambitions. That is our prime purpose and one of which we should never lose sight.

 

Over the last two years the Board was exercised greatly by the major US regulatory and law enforcement investigations we faced. I covered the background to these investigations, settlement of which we reached in December, in our Interim Report.

 

Management is now delivering the required enhancements to our control framework and on top of this we have significantly augmented the Board's oversight and governance capabilities. This is dealt with in more detail below.

 

Encouragingly, there is now growing external recognition of the progress being made in delivering against our stated strategic priorities. This, together with our overweight exposure to the world's more attractive economies, contributed to a total shareholder return of 39% over the year - 7% from dividends paid and 32% from share price appreciation. Over the course of the year the market capitalisation of HSBC grew by US$58bn from US$136bn to US$194bn, returning shareholders once again to the position where their company is worth more than its contributed capital. We remained among the highest dividend payers in the FTSE 100, a performance which we know is of great importance to our shareholders.

 

The cover to this year's Annual Report again illustrates our strategy of connecting customers and markets. The scene depicted is the cargo terminal at Hong Kong International Airport, which has been ranked as the busiest airport for international air cargo since 1996. Today the airport's trade throughput represents over one third of Hong Kong's external trade. HSBC's connection with trade financing and trade services through Hong Kong goes back to our earliest days and remains one of our core strengths. Projections of trade growth in Asia and Hong Kong's role therein reinforce our investment focus in this area. 

 

Performance in 2012

 

There was much to be positive about in HSBC's performance in 2012. The majority of our core businesses in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong, continued to perform well, achieving good underlying revenue growth in the year. Increased market confidence around eurozone recovery contributed to a significant turnaround in Global Banking and Markets results in Europe. Targeted disposals and the continuing run-off from our exit portfolios in the United States, together with evidence of recovery in many housing areas were reflected in significantly lower US loan impairment charges.

 

Progress in managing costs to reflect a lower economic growth environment in developed markets was encouraging. Offsetting these positive factors, credit demand remained muted throughout Europe, low interest rates continued to constrain the value of our liquid balance sheet and customer redress costs continued to weigh heavily in the UK.

 

The Group Chief Executive's Business Review covers financial performance and progress on strategy delivery in more detail.

 

Reported results include the benefit of profits arising from the significant disposals made in the year as well as bearing the burden of the fines and penalties levied as part of the settlement with US regulatory and law enforcement agencies and increased customer redress provisions in the UK. When the Board assesses management performance as part of reward measurement, these disposal gains are eliminated but the legal settlement and customer redress costs are not.

 

Looking through the reported results to underlying financial performance, the Board viewed positively the 2012 outcome.

 

Although earnings per share of US$0.74 were 20% lower than 2011, this largely reflected a US$9.1bn negative swing in the fair value of our own debt as credit spreads tightened, together with a higher tax rate.

 

With the Group's capital position strengthened from retained profits and from capital released from the divestments made in the year, the Board has approved a 29% increase in the final dividend in respect of the year to US$0.18 per share, US$0.04 higher than the final dividend in respect of 2011. Total dividends in respect of 2012 of US$8.3bn, amounted to US$0.45 per share, US$0.9bn higher than in 2011. The Board also intends to increase the quarterly dividends in respect of the first three quarters of 2013 by US$0.01 per share to US$0.10 per share.

 

Shareholders' equity at the end of 2012 stood at US$175bn, US$17bn or some 10 % higher than at the beginning of the year. The core tier 1 capital ratio strengthened from 10.1% to 12.3% and the Group remains on track to deliver compliance with the more onerous Basel III requirements in the accelerated timetable being sought by UK regulators.

 

During 2012, the UK government increased the rate of levy applied on the global balance sheets of UK domiciled banks. The cost to HSBC of the revised levy for the current year was US$571m of which US$295m related to non-UK banking activity. The 2012 levy, which is not tax deductible, is the equivalent of US$0.03 per ordinary share and, as indicated last year, would otherwise have been available for distribution to shareholders or used to strengthen the capital base further.

 

Progress on regulatory reform

 

2012 was a further year of progress in delivering key elements of the regulatory reform agenda mandated by the G20 in response to the financial crisis. After a long consultation period, the proposed Liquidity Coverage Ratio within the Basel III framework was recalibrated to better match industry experience, and so strengthen bank liquidity without unnecessarily constraining credit formation.

 

The list of banks to be designated as globally significant was announced and, as expected, HSBC was one of four placed in the highest category. Good progress was made on clarifying the possible approaches to resolving the failure of a bank with operations in multiple jurisdictions. One approach was directly applicable to the subsidiarised model favoured by HSBC.

 

On structural reform of banking entities, the Liikanen Group in Europe produced its report for consideration while draft alternatives have been proposed in France and Germany. In the UK, the Government substantially accepted the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Banking in a policy paper and a draft Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill is expected to be approved in the first half of 2013. Thereafter, the government has signalled its intention to pass secondary legislation by the end of this parliament in 2015, with final implementation of the new regime by 2019.

 

The key structural change being legislated remains the separation of certain banking activities for personal and small business customers into a ring-fenced bank with its own financial and governance arrangements. The recently appointed Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in the UK has reviewed the proposed legislation and inter alia recommended strengthening the ring fence by empowering regulators to force full separation in the event of attempts to frustrate the objectives of the ring fence.

 

Ongoing work remains extensive. Major areas of policy development covering augmenting loss absorbency through bailing-in certain categories of creditor, addressing the systemic impact of central clearing counterparties, establishing a banking union within the eurozone and revisiting the risk weighting of assets to enhance transparency and consistency, are among the most important.

 

On top of this, the UK Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards is currently examining all aspects of conduct, behaviour and culture with a view to making recommendations designed to restore trust and confidence in banks.

 

We are committed to working constructively with public policy makers and our regulators to give effect to these proposals. We note, however, two areas of concern.

 

First, it is perplexing that, after the great international effort invested in the G20 programme of sound and consistent global financial regulation, and the extent of reform currently underway, an increasing number of countries now appear to be acting unilaterally, thereby putting globally consistent regulation at risk of fragmentation and 'balkanising' the capital and liquidity resources of firms.

 

Second, we believe the sheer scale and timescale of the reform programme is hampering investors' line of sight to the long-term returns available.

 

Resolving these two issues, which will require inter-governmental direction and co-operation, would contribute to enhancing the ability of the industry to support the economic growth agenda now being prioritised in most parts of the world.

 

 

Enforcing global standards

 

The Board is determined to adopt and enforce the highest behavioural and compliance standards in HSBC. For well documented reasons, the last two years have been extremely damaging to HSBC's reputation and to our perception of ourselves. We faced serious failings both in the application of our standards and in our ability to identify, and so prevent, misuse and abuse of the financial system through our networks. Our strategy is entirely configured to eliminate the possibility of this happening again.

 

We have apologised unreservedly to all our stakeholders and have paid huge penalties both in monetary cost and reputational damage. More important than apologies, however, are the steps being taken to prevent recurrence. Management under Stuart Gulliver, the Group Chief Executive, is leading the work to simplify business and so reinforce risk management and control.

 

Our success in meeting our objectives will be subject to independent validation not simply through ongoing regulatory review but additionally through the appointment of an independent Monitor who will report to both UK and US authorities. We welcome the additional rigour this will bring to the process of upgrading and enforcing our global standards.

 

To reinforce the Board's ability to exercise rigorous governance over these endeavours, we announced the creation of a new Board committee, the Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee on 30 January 2013. This committee will provide governance, oversight and policy guidance over the framework of controls and procedures designed to identify areas where HSBC may become exposed and, through that exposure, expose the financial system more broadly to financial crime or system abuse.

 

Five subject matter experts drawn from the highest levels of public service will support the committee. Their expertise includes the combating of organised crime, terrorist financing, narcotics trafficking, tax evasion and money laundering as well as expertise in intelligence gathering and international payments systems. They will provide invaluable guidance and advice, and most importantly challenge, as we strengthen our capabilities and enforce the highest standards. Further details of the background and experience of these individuals are contained in the Directors' Report.

Recognising the need to augment the Board's own experience and expertise we have also added specialist expertise at Board level.

 

Board changes

 

At the end of 2012 we said farewell to Narayana Murthy, who stepped down from the Board after serving with distinction for five years. Narayana, as co-founder and long-term CEO of Infosys, brought to the Board exceptional expertise in technology, operational efficiency and outsourcing matters as well as an in-depth knowledge of India and of international business through his experience on many multinational and educational boards. On behalf of the Board and shareholders I want to record our appreciation and gratitude for his contribution to HSBC.

 

We welcome two new directors to the Board.

 

Renato Fassbind joined the Board on 1 January and will serve on the Audit and Remuneration Committees. Renato brings to the Board considerable international business and financial expertise from a distinguished career in industrial, service and financial companies. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board and a member of the audit and the compensation committees of Swiss Reinsurance Company, a member of the Supervisory Board and audit committee of Kühne + Nagel International AG and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Swiss Federal Audit Oversight Authority.

 

Renato stepped down as Chief Financial Officer and a member of the executive board of Credit Suisse Group in September 2010, having served in that role since 2004.

 

Jim Comey joins the Board today and will serve on the newly created Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee. Jim brings to the Board outstanding governance experience from both the private and public sectors. In his private sector roles he acted as General Counsel to leading international businesses and in public life served at the apex of law enforcement in the United States. Most recently, within the private sector, Jim Comey served as General Counsel of Bridgewater Associates, LP and prior to that as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. In public life, from 2003 to 2005, he served as US Deputy Attorney General, where he was responsible for supervising the operations of the Department of Justice, and chaired the President's Corporate Fraud Task Force. From 2002 to 2003, he served as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

 

Fuller details of their background and experience are set out in the Directors' Report.

 

Social contribution

 

Much is currently being written and debated about the role banks should play in society. In large part, this reflects the fact that the economic success that underpins a harmonious society depends upon sustainable financing, confidence and trust in the financial system. That trust is founded upon the broader role that banks play in their local communities.

 

Within HSBC, many of my colleagues make tremendous personal contributions to their communities and I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to them. HSBC's outreach in terms of community investment is primarily in the areas of education and the environment and, in 2012, in financial terms it amounted to some US$120m.

 

In 2012, we extended our commitment to support disadvantaged and vulnerable young people who are neither in education, employment nor training. We support local and international charities working in this area, and also run our own staff-driven 'Future First' programme, which helps street children, children in care and orphans to access education. Initiatives under this programme are developed and supported by HSBC colleagues around the world and, in 2012, 2,717 members of staff volunteered to support the programme.

 

Importantly in all our community work we increasingly look to involve our staff to reinforce our links with the communities we serve. In 2012, for example, 114,982 HSBC colleagues spent 724,650 hours in volunteer activity.

 

We also launched the HSBC Water Programme last year. This is a five-year, US$100m commitment to support Water Aid, WWF and Earthwatch to deliver freshwater and sanitation to poor rural communities in Asia and Africa, educate local communities on sustainable water management in five major river basins around the world, and involve more than 7,500 HSBC staff with local conservation partners to address urban water management issues and learn to carry out scientific water research tasks.

 

Looking ahead

 

It is often said that people come together in adversity, learning lessons from the past and each other to create the bonds that ensure a better future. I believe that this has happened within HSBC. The last year has been a difficult one for all at HSBC as we addressed the restructuring of the firm against a lower-growth economic backdrop and with legacy issues and regulatory challenges imposing a further set of imperatives. Our 270,000 staff have had to face up to bewildering descriptions of HSBC that contrasted with the way they conduct their relationships with the firm's customers and clients.

 

What has been inspirational is how everyone has pulled together, focused on the future and committed to do all and everything necessary to restore a reputation that we all believe can be positively distinctive. On behalf of the Board, I want to thank all our employees for that commitment and their loyal support.

 

I also want to thank our clients and customers, our shareholders, our regulators and those in government who believe, as we do, that we will meet the commitments we have made to allow us better to serve the communities who entrust their financial needs to HSBC.