Company: HBCYF
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001089113-25-000040
Chunk: 384

Company: HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 20-F
Chunk 384
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 governance-focused meeting, held in advance of each Board meeting. Separate committees have been established to provide specialist oversight for matters delegated to the Group CEO and senior management. For further details of these committees, see page 279 . To further support our senior management, we have dedicated company secretaries and corporate governance officers who support and advise legal entities, global businesses and global functions on our corporate governance practices. These roles serve to strengthen the consistency and effectiveness of our end-to-end governance arrangements, and support connectivity and information sharing. From 1 January 2025 the GEC has been replaced by the Group Operating Committee (‘Group OpCo’), whose key focus has been establishing clear lines of accountability and enabling the Group to execute our strategy at pace. The Group OpCo serves as the leading executive decision-making committee and supports the Group CEO in discharging his responsibilities for the management and delivery of Group strategy. In support of the ambition to simplify HSBC, the Nomination & Corporate Governance Committee endorsed a new Group Governance Framework and Operating Rhythm, which will be implemented throughout the organisation in 2025. Subsidiary governance We are committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance throughout the Group. All subsidiary boards and their respective businesses are required to have in place effective governance arrangements with regard to the businesses’ nature, size, location and the sectors in which they operate. The subsidiary accountability framework The subsidiary accountability framework aims to balance appropriate governance oversight by the Group with each subsidiary’s local legal and regulatory requirements. The framework supports the Group in promoting effective governance arrangements across its subsidiaries by: – setting out high-level principles to enhance communications and connectivity; and – ensuring a shared and consistent understanding of the Group’s strategic objectives, culture and values. The subsidiary accountability framework also focuses on ensuring that each subsidiary is led by an effective board with an appropriate balance of skills, diversity, experience and knowledge, having regard to the nature of the subsidiary’s business and local legal and regulatory requirements. Board composition of the Group’s subsidiaries is kept under review as part of succession planning. The Nomination & Corporate Governance Committee reviews the succession plans of principal subsidiaries, and principal subsidiaries review the succession plans for their own subsidiaries, as appropriate. The framework is subject to periodic review by the Board and/or the Nomination & Corporate Governance Committee and updated as required to ensure it is aligned to regulatory requirements and best practices. A comprehensive internal review of the framework was undertaken in 2024 with the outputs reported to the Nomination & Corporate Governance Committee. A number of improvements were made to the framework to