Search Go to internet banking About HSBC Citizenship Investor relations News and insight Careers Home > About HSBC > Our strategy Our strategy Share Print Our objective is to become the world’s leading international bank. Our strategy is aligned to two long-term trends: The world economy is becoming ever more connected, with growth in world trade and cross-border capital flows continuing to outstrip growth in average gross domestic product. Over the next decade we expect 35 markets to generate 90 per cent of world trade growth with a similar degree of concentration in cross-border capital flows. Of the world’s top 30 economies, we expect those in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa to increase in size approximately four-fold by 2050, benefiting from demographics and urbanisation. By this time they will be larger than those of Europe and North America combined. By 2050, we expect 18 of the 30 largest economies will be from Asia-Pacific, Latin America or the Middle East and Africa. HSBC is one of the few truly international banks. Our advantages lie in the extent to which our network corresponds with markets relevant to international financial flows, our access and exposure to high-growth markets and businesses, and our strong balance sheet, which helps to generate a resilient stream of earnings. Based on these long-term trends and our competitive position, our strategy has two parts: A network of businesses connecting the world: HSBC is well positioned to capture the growing international trade and capital flows. Our global reach and range of services place us in a strong position to serve clients as they grow from small enterprises into large multinationals. Wealth management and retail with local scale: we will capture opportunities arising from social mobility and wealth creation in our priority growth markets, through our Premier proposition and Global Private Banking business. We will invest in full scale retail businesses only in markets where we can achieve profitable scale. To implement this strategy we have set three priorities for the Group: grow the business and dividends; implement global standards; and streamline processes and procedures. Grow the business and dividends We continue to position HSBC for growth, generating capital to invest in mostly organic opportunities in our home and priority growth markets, while progressively growing the dividend. We have adopted six filters, which serve as a tool to determine which businesses fit in our portfolio. They help to address fragmentation in our portfolio by identifying which non-strategic businesses to dispose of. In deciding where to invest additional resources, we will follow this stringent framework to assess investment opportunities using strategic, risk and financial criteria. Decisions on how we allocate our resources are made by the Group Management Board under authority delegated from the Board. Implement global standards We are adopting and enforcing the highest global standards across HSBC. This means building a more sustainable business model by investing in world-leading risk and compliance, while seeking to reduce overall risk. We believe that implementing global standards in these areas gives HSBC a distinct competitive advantage. The three primary areas of focus are: Customer due diligence: developing an integrated framework to manage financial crime risk more effectively across the complete customer lifecycle. This includes Know Your Customer programmes, affiliate due diligence programmes and work on areas such as tax transparency and bearer shares. Financial crime compliance: creating a consistent, flexible and scalable compliance organisation and the financial crime risk controls to make sure we meet all Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) and other regulatory obligations. This includes implementing a comprehensive anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programme globally. Financial intelligence: building our capabilities in the capture and use of customer and transaction data to identify suspicious transactions, activity or connections. Streamline processes and procedures We have put in place a structure to manage the bank globally, rather than on a federated basis. Our aim is to continue to streamline, globalise and simplify processes and procedures to generate sustainable savings. This will release capacity to further invest in growing the business. Targets We have defined financial targets to achieve a return on equity of between 12 per cent and 15 per cent with a Basel III Common Equity tier 1 ratio above 10 per cent, and achieve revenue growth in excess of cost growth (“positive jaws”). We will also aim to maintain a cost-efficiency ratio in the mid-50s. Taken together, we are confident that these measures will deliver consistent and superior financial results and move us closer to achieving our ambition of being the world’s leading international bank. in News and insight Get the latest news, analysis and commentary. Our business specialists share their views. Inflation not the only way Low inflation provides no guarantee of lasting economic progress, says Stephen King, HSBC Group Chief Economist. Read more in Investor update 2013 Read about the progress we have made with our strategy to streamline the Group and position it for growth. in Fast facts A snapshot of HSBC's global network and how each of the four business lines contributes to the Group's strategy. Contact us Search About HSBC Our purpose Our strategy Leadership Company history Structure and network Advertising Sponsorship Procurement Citizenship Our values Diversity and inclusion Sustainability Investor relations Investing in HSBC Share information Dividends Financial and regulatory reports Events and presentations Stock exchange announcements Fixed income securities Governance Investor resources News and insight Media resources Emerging markets PMI Insight archive Careers Why HSBC? Explore our business Meet our people Application hints and tips Careers events Students and graduates Frequently asked questions HSBC banking services Commercial Banking Global Banking and Markets Global Private Banking Retail Banking and Wealth Management Terms and conditions Privacy policy Cookie policy Accessibility policy © Copyright HSBC Group 2014 No endorsement or approval of any third parties or their advice, opinions, information, products or services is expressed or implied by any information on this Site or by any hyperlinks to or from any third party websites or pages. Your use of this website is subject to the terms and conditions governing it. Please read these terms and conditions before using the website.