Interim Report - 1 of 28

The Interim Report 2013 of HSBC Holdings has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of English law, and liability in respect thereof is also governed by English law. In particular, the liability of the Directors for this report is solely to HSBC Holdings.

Certain defined terms

Unless the context requires otherwise, 'HSBC Holdings' means HSBC Holdings plc and 'HSBC', the 'Group', 'we', 'us' and 'our' refer to HSBC Holdings together with its subsidiaries. Within this document, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is referred to as 'Hong Kong'. When used in the terms 'shareholders' equity' and 'total shareholders' equity', 'shareholders' means holders of HSBC Holdings ordinary shares and those preference shares classified as equity. The abbreviations 'US$m' and 'US$bn' represent millions and billions (thousands of millions) of US dollars, respectively.

Interim financial statements and notes

HSBC's Interim Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereon, as set out on pages 208 to 263, have been prepared in accordance with the Disclosure Rules and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority and International Accounting Standard ('IAS') 34 'Interim Financial Reporting' as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ('IASB') and as endorsed by the European Union ('EU'). The consolidated financial statements of HSBC at 31 December 2012 were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ('IFRSs') as issued by the IASB, and as endorsed by the EU. EU-endorsed IFRSs may differ from IFRSs as issued by the IASB if, at any point in time, new or amended IFRSs have not been endorsed by the EU. At 31 December 2012, there were no unendorsed standards effective for the year ended 31 December 2012 affecting the consolidated financial statements at that date, and there was no difference between IFRSs endorsed by the EU and IFRSs issued by the IASB in terms of their application to HSBC. Accordingly, HSBC's financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2012 were prepared in accordance with IFRSs as issued by the IASB. At 30 June 2013, there were no unendorsed standards effective for the period ended 30 June 2013 significantly affecting these interim consolidated financial statements, and there was no significant difference between IFRSs endorsed by the EU and IFRSs issued by the IASB in terms of their application to HSBC.

HSBC uses the US dollar as its presentation currency because the US dollar and currencies linked to it form the major currency bloc in which HSBC transacts and funds its business. Unless otherwise stated, the information presented in this document has been measured in accordance with IFRSs.

When reference to 'underlying' is made in tables or commentaries, the comparative information has been expressed at constant currency (see page 17), the impact of fair value movements in respect of credit spread changes on HSBC's own debt has been eliminated and the effects of acquisitions, disposals and dilutions have been adjusted as reconciled on page 19. Underlying return on risk-weighted assets ('RoRWA') is defined and reconciled on page 43.