Company: HBCYF
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form Type: 424B5
Source: 0001193125-25-034819
Chunk: 46

Company: HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form: 424B5
Chunk 46
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 to maintain or increase our Distributable Items.

The level of our Distributable Items may be further affected by changes to regulation
or the requirements and expectations of applicable regulatory authorities. In particular, capital or ring fencing requirements, both in the UK and in other jurisdictions where we have significant operations, could adversely affect our Distributable
Items in the future, such as the internal MREL requirements applicable to our UK and EU banking operations, and the regulatory capital and internal TLAC requirements and buffers applicable to intermediate holding companies (“IHCs”) in the
United States and potential restrictions on such IHCs’ ability to engage in capital distributions.

Further, our Distributable Items
may be adversely affected by the performance of the HSBC Group’s business in general, factors affecting its financial position (including capital and leverage), the economic environment in which the HSBC Group operates and other factors outside
of our control. See “—Risks Relating to HSBC’s Business.” In cases of material distress at the group level or at certain subsidiaries, regulatory authorities could write down (including to zero) or convert to common equity
loans we have made to subsidiaries that qualify as internal MREL or internal TLAC, which could adversely affect our Distributable Items.

Our Distributable Items are also sensitive to the accounting impact of factors such as the redemption of preference shares and impairment
charges and the carrying value of our investments in subsidiaries, which are carried at the lower of cost and their prevailing recoverable amount. Recoverable amounts depend on discounted

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future cash flows, which can be affected by restructurings, whether carried out for strategic reasons, to give effect to regulatory requirements or otherwise. Any of these factors could limit our
ability to maintain sufficient Distributable Items.

Our holding company structure may mean that our rights to participate in assets of any of our subsidiaries upon its liquidation may be subject to prior claims of some of its creditors, including when we have loaned or otherwise advanced the proceeds received from the issuance of the Securities to such subsidiary.

The Securities are our obligations exclusively and are not guaranteed by any person, including any of our subsidiaries. We are a non-operating holding company and, as such, our principal source of income is derived from our operating subsidiaries that hold the principal assets of the HSBC Group. As a separate legal entity, we rely on, among
other things, remittance of our subsidiaries’ loan and debt securities interest payments and dividends in order to be able to meet our obligations to you as they fall