Company: HBCYF
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001089113-25-000040
Chunk: 209

Company: HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 20-F
Chunk 209
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 EU is considering a similar programme. China has retaliated by imposing, among other things, export restrictions on key high-tech materials with potential military applications. Other material sanctions regulatory developments include the US terminating its Zimbabwe sanctions programme, partially rolling back sanctions relief afforded to Venezuela in 2023, granting additional sanctions relief for basic human needs following the fall of the Assad regime, and increasing the statute of limitations for civil enforcement action and criminal prosecution for breaches of US sanctions from five to ten years. The UK also introduced new strict liability enforcement powers for breaches of UK trade sanctions, including forming the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation to enforce UK trade sanctions, as well as expanded authorities to impose sanctions on financial institutions or other entities that facilitate certain transactions relating to the Russian government. HSBC continues to monitor regulatory developments and their impact on HSBC’s global financial crime policy and risk appetite.

Disclosures pursuant to Section 13(r) of the Securities Exchange Act Section 13(r) of the Securities Exchange Act requires each issuer registered with the SEC to disclose in its annual or quarterly reports whether it or any of its affiliates have knowingly engaged in specified activities or transactions with persons or entities targeted by U.S. sanctions programmes relating to Iran, terrorism, or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, even if those activities are not prohibited by U.S. law, are conducted outside the U.S. by non-U.S. affiliates in compliance with local laws and regulations, and are not material to the business of the issuer or any of its affiliates. To comply with this requirement, HSBC Holdings plc (together with its affiliates, “HSBC”) has requested relevant information from its affiliates globally. The following activities conducted by HSBC are disclosed in response to Section 13(r) and are not material to the business of HSBC: Legacy contractual obligations related to guarantees Between 1996 and 2007, we provided guarantees to a number of our non-Iranian customers in Europe and the Middle East for various business activities in Iran. In a number of cases, we issued counter indemnities involving Iranian banks as the Iranian beneficiaries of the guarantees required that they be backed directly by Iranian banks. The Iranian banks to which we provided counter indemnities included Bank Tejarat, Bank Melli, and the Bank of Industry and Mine. There was no measurable gross revenue in 2024 under those guarantees and counter indemnities. We do not allocate direct costs to fees and commissions and, therefore, have not disclosed a separate net profit measure. We are seeking to cancel all relevant guarantees and