Granting of banking licence to HSBC Bank (Suisse) S.A.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced today (5 March 2001) that the Monetary Authority has granted a banking licence to HSBC Bank (Suisse) S.A. (HBS) under the Banking Ordinance. The grant of this banking licence took effect on 2 March 2001.

HBS is a bank incorporated in Switzerland and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc. HBS was set up to conduct private banking business of the HSBC Group.

With the granting of a banking licence to HBS, the number of banks in Hong Kong has increased to 155, of which 31 are incorporated in Hong Kong.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Caitlin Wong, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
5 March 2001