Company: HBCYF
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001089113-25-000040
Chunk: 411

Company: HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 20-F
Chunk 411
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 Accounts 2024 and investor communications. This work enabled the GAC to discharge its responsibilities and support the Board in making the statement required under the UK and Hong Kong Corporate Governance Codes. Internal controls During the year, the Board approved changes to the scope of the GAC’s responsibilities in relation to internal controls. These changes saw the GAC assume responsibility for oversight of the effectiveness of all internal controls. This reflected the GAC’s experience in overseeing internal controls over financial reporting, and the responsibility that will apply from the 2026 financial year to make a declaration on the effectiveness of material controls under the 2024 UK Corporate Governance Code. Regular updates and confirmations are provided to the GAC on the action management takes to remediate any failings or weaknesses identified through the operation of the Group’s framework of internal financial controls. This is supplemented by reviews of these controls by the second line of defence and internal audit, and the external auditors, who provided additional comfort to the Committee on the effectiveness of these controls. These reviews confirmed that there were no material weaknesses as at the year-end. These updates included the Group’s work on compliance with section 404 of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Based on this work, the GAC recommended that the Board support its assessment of the internal controls over financial reporting. The GAC continued to focus on controls over the Group's Insurance business following the implementation of the IFRS 17 ‘Insurance Contracts‘ accounting standards. The GAC welcomed management's progress in improving the control environment during 2024. However, there remains further work to ensure that the Insurance business embeds the control standards expected on a consistent basis across all markets. For further details of how the Board reviewed the effectiveness of key aspects of internal control, see page 354 . Regulatory reporting Regulatory reporting has been a key priority for the Committee over recent years and will continue to be a priority for 2025. The Committee is focused on monitoring the programme of work to address the quality and reliability of regulatory reporting to meet regulatory expectations. Management provided updates on the status of ongoing HSBC- specific external reviews, and discussed the issues and themes identified from the increased assurance work and focus on regulatory reporting. The GAC also discussed root cause themes, remediation of known issues and new issues identified through the increased assurance work. The Committee challenged management on remediation plans, to assess whether there was a sustainable reduction in issues and that dependencies with other key programmes were well understood. Further details can be found in the ‘Principal activities and significant