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Annual Financial Report - Part 5

22nd Feb 2022 16:30

RNS Number : 4603C
HSBC Holdings PLC
22 February 2022
 

Commercial real estate

Commercial real estate lending includes the financing of corporate, institutional and high net worth customers who are investing primarily in income-producing assets and, to a lesser extent, in their construction and development. The portfolio is globally diversified with larger concentrations in Hong Kong, the UK and the US.

Our global exposure is centred largely on cities with economic, political or cultural significance. In more developed markets, our exposure mainly comprises the financing of investment assets, the redevelopment of existing stock and the augmentation of both

commercial and residential markets to support economic and population growth. In less developed commercial real estate markets, our exposures comprise lending for development assets on relatively short tenors with a particular focus on supporting larger, better capitalised developers involved in residential construction or assets supporting economic expansion.

Commercial real estate lending declined $7.5bn, including adverse foreign exchange movements of $1.2bn, mainly in the UK and, to a lesser extent, within the US.

Commercial real estate lending

Of which:

Europe

Asia

MENA

North

 America

Latin America

Total

UK

Hong Kong

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Gross loans and advances

Stage 1

20,317

56,734

781

8,328

1,073

87,233

14,235

42,951

Stage 2

3,505

17,103

569

1,265

218

22,660

2,781

13,300

Stage 3

1,062

543

206

9

249

2,069

905

435

POCI

-

98

-

-

-

98

-

98

At 31 Dec 2021

24,884

74,478

1,556

9,602

1,540

112,060

17,921

56,784

- of which: renegotiated loans

440

251

145

-

-

836

436

170

Allowance for ECL

(450)

(693)

(158)

(26)

(130)

(1,457)

(366)

(604)

 

Gross loans and advances

Stage 1

22,639

63,276

1,147

7,373

1,269

95,704

16,207

48,735

Stage 2

5,549

11,686

436

4,093

381

22,145

4,299

9,105

Stage 3

1,114

37

250

42

240

1,683

966

18

POCI

1

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

At 31 Dec 2020

29,303

74,999

1,833

11,508

1,890

119,533

21,472

57,858

- of which: renegotiated loans

751

3

201

-

-

955

744

-

Allowance for ECL

(650)

(117)

(190)

(64)

(120)

(1,141)

(575)

(65)

 

Refinance risk in commercial real estate

Commercial real estate lending tends to require the repayment of a significant proportion of the principal at maturity. Typically, a customer will arrange repayment through the acquisition of a new loan to settle the existing debt. Refinance risk is the risk that a customer, being unable to repay the debt on maturity, fails to refinance it at commercial rates. We monitor our commercial real estate portfolio closely, assessing indicators for signs of potential issues with refinancing.

 

Commercial real estate gross loans and advances maturity analysis

Of which:

Europe

Asia

MENA

North America

Latin America

Total

UK

Hong Kong

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

On demand, overdrafts or revolving

< 1 year

12,980

26,736

478

5,961

336

46,491

10,546

20,466

1-2 years

4,794

18,192

159

1,098

280

24,523

3,921

14,399

2-5 years

5,352

26,668

631

2,297

559

35,507

2,805

19,562

> 5 years

1,758

2,882

288

246

365

5,539

649

2,357

At 31 Dec 2021

24,884

74,478

1,556

9,602

1,540

112,060

17,921

56,784

 

On demand, overdrafts or revolving

< 1 year

13,728

25,075

750

5,793

263

45,609

12,131

19,998

1-2 years

6,373

18,396

119

3,112

434

28,434

4,991

13,237

2-5 years

6,241

27,699

668

2,288

927

37,823

3,135

21,694

> 5 years

2,961

3,829

296

315

266

7,667

1,215

2,929

At 31 Dec 2020

29,303

74,999

1,833

11,508

1,890

119,533

21,472

57,858

 

The following table presents the Group's total exposure to mainland China commercial real estate at 31 December 2021, by country/territory and credit quality. Mainland China reported real estate exposures comprise exposures booked in mainland China and offshore where the ultimate parent and beneficial owner is based in mainland China, and all exposures booked on mainland China balance sheets.

 

Mainland China commercial real estate

Hong Kong

Mainland China

Rest of the Group

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

Loans and advances to customers1

9,903

6,811

410

17,124

Guarantees issued and others2

1,747

2,376

79

4,202

Total mainland China commercial real estate exposure at 31 Dec 2021

11,650

9,187

489

21,326

Distribution of mainland China commercial real estate exposure by credit quality

- Strong

3,543

3,864

155

7,562

- Good

2,652

2,354

73

5,079

- Satisfactory

3,383

2,855

106

6,344

- Sub-standard

1,570

12

155

1,737

- Credit impaired

502

102

-

604

At 31 Dec 2021

11,650

9,187

489

21,326

Allowance for ECL

560

49

2

611

1 Amounts represent gross carrying amount.

2 Amounts represent nominal amount.

At 31 December 2021, the Group had no direct credit exposure to developers in the 'red' category of the Chinese government's 'three red lines' framework. The Group's exposures related to companies whose primary activities are focused on residential, commercial and mixed-use real estate activities. Lending is generally focused on tier 1 and 2 cities.

Booked in Hong Kong are higher risk exposures to a combination of state and privately owned enterprises. This portfolio had 89% of exposure booked with a credit quality of 'satisfactory' or above, but had a higher degree of uncertainty due to tightening liquidity and increased refinancing risks. In addition, offshore exposures are typically higher risk than onshore exposures. At 31 December 2021, the Group had allowances for ECL of $560m held against mainland China commercial real estate exposures booked in Hong Kong. We will continue to monitor the prevailing situation closely.

Collateral and other credit enhancements

(Audited)

Although collateral can be an important mitigant of credit risk, it is the Group's practice to lend on the basis of the customer's ability to meet their obligations out of cash flow resources rather than placing primary reliance on collateral and other credit risk enhancements. Depending on the customer's standing and the type of product, facilities may be provided without any collateral or other credit enhancements. For other lending, a charge over collateral is obtained and considered in determining the credit decision and pricing. In the event of default, the Group may utilise the collateral as a source of repayment.

Depending on its form, collateral can have a significant financial effect in mitigating our exposure to credit risk. Where there is sufficient collateral, an expected credit loss is not recognised. This is the case for reverse repurchase agreements and for certain loans and advances to customers where the loan to value ('LTV') is very low.

Mitigants may include a charge on borrowers' specific assets, such as real estate or financial instruments. Other credit risk mitigants include short positions in securities and financial assets held as part of linked insurance/investment contracts where the risk is predominantly borne by the policyholder. Additionally, risk may be managed by employing other types of collateral and credit risk enhancements, such as second charges, other liens and unsupported guarantees. Guarantees are normally taken from corporates and export credit agencies. Corporates would normally provide guarantees as part of a parent/subsidiary relationship and span a number of credit grades. The export credit agencies will normally be investment grade.

Certain credit mitigants are used strategically in portfolio management activities. While single name concentrations arise in portfolios managed by Global Banking and Corporate Banking, it is only in Global Banking that their size requires the use of portfolio level credit mitigants. Across Global Banking, risk limits and utilisations, maturity profiles and risk quality are monitored and managed proactively. This process is key to the setting of risk appetite for these larger, more complex, geographically distributed customer groups. While the principal form of risk management continues to be at the point of exposure origination, through the lending decision-making process, Global Banking also utilises loan sales and credit default swap ('CDS') hedges to manage concentrations and reduce risk. These transactions are the responsibility of a dedicated Global Banking portfolio management team. Hedging activity is carried out within agreed credit parameters, and is subject to market risk limits and a robust governance structure. Where applicable, CDSs are entered into directly with a central clearing house counterparty. Otherwise, the Group's exposure to CDS protection providers is diversified among mainly banking counterparties with strong credit ratings.

CDS mitigants are held at portfolio level and are not included in the expected credit loss calculations. CDS mitigants are not reported in the following tables.

Collateral on loans and advances

Collateral held is analysed separately for commercial real estate and for other corporate, commercial and financial (non-bank) lending. The following tables include off-balance sheet loan commitments, primarily undrawn credit lines.

The collateral measured in the following tables consists of fixed first charges on real estate, and charges over cash and marketable financial instruments. The values in the tables represent the expected market value on an open market basis. No adjustment has been made to the collateral for any expected costs of recovery. Marketable securities are measured at their fair value.

Other types of collateral such as unsupported guarantees and floating charges over the assets of a customer's business are not measured in the following tables. While such mitigants have value, often providing rights in insolvency, their assignable value is not sufficiently certain and they are therefore assigned no value for disclosure purposes.

The LTV ratios presented are calculated by directly associating loans and advances with the collateral that individually and uniquely supports each facility. When collateral assets are shared by multiple loans and advances, whether specifically or, more generally, by way of an all monies charge, the collateral value is pro-rated across the loans and advances protected by the collateral.

For credit-impaired loans, the collateral values cannot be directly compared with impairment allowances recognised. The LTV figures use open market values with no adjustments. Impairment allowances are calculated on a different basis, by considering other cash flows and adjusting collateral values for costs of realising collateral as explained further on page 324.

Commercial real estate loans and advances

The value of commercial real estate collateral is determined by using a combination of external and internal valuations

and physical inspections. For commercial real estate, where the facility exceeds regulatory threshold requirements, Group policy requires an independent review of the valuation at least every three years, or more frequently as the need arises.

In Hong Kong, market practice is typically for lending to major property companies to be either secured by guarantees or unsecured. In Europe, facilities of a working capital nature are generally not secured by a first fixed charge, and are therefore disclosed as not collateralised.

 

Wholesale lending - commercial real estate loans and advances including loan commitments by level of collateral for key

countries/territories (by stage)

(Audited)

Of which:

Total

UK

Hong Kong

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

Stage 1

Not collateralised

50,603

0.1

7,623

0.4

23,864

-

Fully collateralised

71,769

0.1

13,139

0.2

32,951

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

35,984

0.1

4,142

0.2

22,645

-

- 51% to 75%

26,390

0.1

6,460

0.2

8,082

-

- 76% to 90%

5,284

0.2

1,859

0.2

1,181

-

- 91% to 100%

4,111

0.1

678

-

1,043

0.1

Partially collateralised (A):

5,429

0.1

2,018

0.1

714

-

- collateral value on A

2,942

874

447

Total

127,801

0.1

22,780

0.3

57,529

-

Stage 2

Not collateralised

11,729

4.3

1,970

0.9

7,758

5.9

Fully collateralised

12,741

1.1

1,131

2.3

6,385

0.4

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

5,759

1.0

605

3.1

3,633

0.3

- 51% to 75%

4,804

1.1

471

1.3

2,389

0.5

- 76% to 90%

757

1.5

43

-

269

0.4

- 91% to 100%

1,421

1.5

12

-

94

-

Partially collateralised (B):

1,783

2.7

366

0.3

172

2.9

- collateral value on B

930

223

70

Total

26,253

2.7

3,467

1.3

14,315

3.4

Stage 3

Not collateralised

828

40.9

407

42.0

198

35.9

Fully collateralised

1,176

22.0

346

5.2

290

11.0

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

645

19.8

36

2.8

284

10.9

- 51% to 75%

286

9.1

250

5.2

-

-

- 76% to 90%

62

14.5

11

-

2

-

- 91% to 100%

183

52.5

49

8.2

4

25.0

Partially collateralised (C):

265

47.9

204

49.0

-

-

- collateral value on C

149

97

-

Total

2,269

32.0

957

30.2

488

21.1

POCI

Not collateralised

-

-

-

-

-

-

Fully collateralised

98

-

-

-

98

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

98

-

-

-

98

-

- 51% to 75%

-

-

-

-

-

-

- 76% to 90%

-

-

-

-

-

-

- 91% to 100%

-

-

-

-

-

-

Partially collateralised (D):

-

-

-

-

-

-

- collateral value on D

-

-

-

Total

98

-

-

-

98

-

At 31 Dec 2021

156,421

1.0

27,204

1.5

72,430

0.8

 

Wholesale lending - commercial real estate loans and advances including loan commitments by level of collateral for key

countries/territories (by stage) (continued)

(Audited)

Of which:

Total

UK

Hong Kong

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL

coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL

coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL

coverage

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

Stage 1

Not collateralised

55,376

0.1

7,205

0.6

29,422

-

Fully collateralised

71,915

0.2

14,053

0.2

33,386

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

36,408

0.1

4,665

0.3

22,361

-

- 51% to 75%

26,081

0.2

7,031

0.2

9,091

-

- 76% to 90%

5,098

0.3

1,932

0.2

1,093

-

- 91% to 100%

4,328

0.3

425

0.5

841

-

Partially collateralised (A):

5,477

0.2

1,463

0.1

769

-

- collateral value on A

3,486

912

594

Total

132,768

0.1

22,721

0.4

63,577

-

Stage 2

Not collateralised

8,710

1.3

3,337

2.2

1,084

0.1

Fully collateralised

18,383

1.0

2,534

1.6

8,719

0.5

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

8,544

0.8

1,132

1.5

5,359

0.4

- 51% to 75%

8,097

1.1

1,020

2.0

2,955

0.8

- 76% to 90%

849

1.1

350

0.9

319

0.3

- 91% to 100%

893

1.0

32

3.1

86

-

Partially collateralised (B):

1,260

1.0

713

0.8

196

1.0

- collateral value on B

517

246

147

Total

28,353

1.1

6,584

1.8

9,999

0.5

Stage 3

Not collateralised

1,038

45.3

635

50.7

-

-

Fully collateralised

583

11.5

348

9.5

20

5.0

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

177

13.6

56

5.4

11

-

- 51% to 75%

161

15.5

128

12.5

3

-

- 76% to 90%

149

6.7

139

5.8

-

-

- 91% to 100%

96

8.3

25

24.0

6

16.7

Partially collateralised (C):

474

45.6

195

27.7

-

-

- collateral value on C

331

120

-

Total

2,095

35.9

1,178

34.7

20

5.0

POCI

Not collateralised

-

-

-

-

-

-

Fully collateralised

1

-

-

-

-

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

1

-

-

-

-

-

- 51% to 75%

-

-

-

-

-

-

- 76% to 90%

-

-

-

-

-

-

- 91% to 100%

-

-

-

-

-

-

Partially collateralised (D):

-

-

-

-

-

-

- collateral value on D

-

-

-

-

-

-

Total

1

-

-

-

-

-

At 31 Dec 2020

163,217

0.8

30,483

2.0

73,596

0.1

 

Wholesale lending - commercial real estate loans and advances including loan commitments by level of collateral for key

countries/territories

(Audited)

Of which:

Total

UK

Hong Kong

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

Rated CRR/PD1 to 7

Not collateralised

61,279

0.5

9,586

0.5

30,917

0.6

Fully collateralised

83,456

0.2

14,218

0.2

38,817

0.1

Partially collateralised (A):

7,059

0.5

2,379

0.2

886

0.6

- collateral value on A

3,729

1,092

517

Total

151,794

0.3

26,183

0.3

70,620

0.3

Rated CRR/PD8

Not collateralised

1,053

26.5

7

42.9

705

38.6

Fully collateralised

1,054

3.8

52

38.5

519

2.1

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

503

4.8

41

41.5

378

0.8

- 51% to 75%

447

3.1

8

25.0

137

5.8

- 76% to 90%

60

1.7

1

-

4

-

- 91% to 100%

44

2.3

2

-

-

-

Partially collateralised (B):

153

15.0

5

20.0

-

-

- collateral value on B

143

5

-

Total

2,260

15.1

64

37.5

1,224

23.1

Rated CRR/PD9 to 10

Not collateralised

828

40.9

407

42.0

198

35.9

Fully collateralised

1,274

20.3

346

5.2

388

8.2

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

743

17.2

36

2.8

382

8.1

- 51% to 75%

286

9.1

250

5.2

-

-

- 76% to 90%

62

14.5

11

-

2

-

- 91% to 100%

183

52.5

49

8.2

4

25.0

Partially collateralised (C):

265

47.9

204

49.0

-

-

- collateral value on C

149

97

-

Total

2,367

30.6

957

30.2

586

17.6

At 31 Dec 2021

156,421

1.0

27,204

1.5

72,430

0.8

 

Rated CRR/PD1 to 7

Not collateralised

64,046

0.3

10,527

1.1

30,506

-

Fully collateralised

89,664

0.3

16,483

0.4

41,861

0.1

Partially collateralised (A):

6,728

0.4

2,174

0.3

965

0.2

- collateral value on A

3,994

1,157

741

Total

160,438

0.3

29,184

0.6

73,332

-

Rated CRR/PD8

Not collateralised

40

22.5

15

6.7

-

-

Fully collateralised

634

8.2

104

12.5

244

12.7

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

282

7.1

15

6.7

102

11.8

- 51% to 75%

321

9.0

75

13.3

138

13.0

- 76% to 90%

14

21.4

5

20.0

4

25.0

- 91% to 100%

17

-

9

-

-

-

Partially collateralised (B):

9

11.1

2

50.0

-

-

- collateral value on B

9

1

-

Total

683

9.1

121

12.4

244

12.7

Rated CRR/PD9 to 10

Not collateralised

1,038

45.3

635

50.7

-

-

Fully collateralised

584

11.5

348

9.5

20

5.0

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

178

13.5

56

5.4

11

-

- 51% to 75%

161

15.5

128

12.5

3

-

- 76% to 90%

149

6.7

139

5.8

-

-

- 91% to 100%

96

8.3

25

24.0

6

16.7

Partially collateralised (C):

474

45.6

195

27.7

-

-

- collateral value on C

331

120

-

Total

2,096

35.9

1,178

34.7

20

5.0

At 31 Dec 2020

163,217

0.8

30,483

2.0

73,596

0.1

 

Other corporate, commercial and financial (non-bank) loans and advances

Other corporate, commercial and financial (non-bank) loans are analysed separately in the following table, which focuses on the countries/territories containing the majority of our loans and advances balances. For financing activities in other corporate and commercial lending, collateral value is not strongly correlated to principal repayment performance.

Collateral values are generally refreshed when an obligor's general credit performance deteriorates and we have to assess the likely performance of secondary sources of repayment should it prove necessary to rely on them.

Accordingly, the following table reports values only for customers with CRR 8-10, recognising that these loans and advances generally have valuations that are comparatively recent.

 

 

Wholesale lending - other corporate, commercial and financial (non-bank) loans and advances including loan commitments by level

of collateral for key countries/territories (by stage)

(Audited)

Of which:

Total

UK

Hong Kong

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

Stage 1

Not collateralised

624,935

0.1

112,188

0.2

111,948

-

Fully collateralised

112,905

0.1

22,971

0.2

45,479

0.1

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

40,636

0.1

6,512

0.2

16,915

-

- 51% to 75%

38,709

0.1

9,431

0.2

16,533

0.1

- 76% to 90%

13,284

0.1

2,556

0.1

4,920

0.1

- 91% to 100%

20,276

0.1

4,472

-

7,111

0.1

Partially collateralised (A):

64,058

0.1

8,665

0.1

20,358

-

- collateral value on A

30,890

4,826

9,322

Total

801,898

0.1

143,824

0.2

177,785

-

Stage 2

Not collateralised

85,394

1.1

18,562

2.0

8,310

1.1

Fully collateralised

32,019

1.1

8,231

1.3

11,503

0.7

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

10,892

1.2

3,148

1.5

3,378

0.5

- 51% to 75%

14,281

1.1

4,161

1.2

5,202

0.9

- 76% to 90%

2,752

1.2

687

1.5

1,148

0.9

- 91% to 100%

4,094

0.9

235

1.7

1,775

0.2

Partially collateralised (B):

12,484

1.0

1,824

1.9

1,788

0.4

- collateral value on B

6,675

937

785

Total

129,897

1.1

28,617

1.8

21,601

0.8

Stage 3

Not collateralised

8,122

47.3

2,979

21.6

732

74.7

Fully collateralised

2,278

12.7

1,212

3.4

240

2.1

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

603

20.9

249

4.8

76

-

- 51% to 75%

1,110

5.0

786

1.4

110

3.6

- 76% to 90%

295

11.5

115

9.6

26

-

- 91% to 100%

270

27.4

62

9.7

28

3.6

Partially collateralised (C):

2,134

38.7

318

35.5

616

28.9

- collateral value on C

1,200

186

358

Total

12,534

39.6

4,509

17.7

1,588

46.0

POCI

Not collateralised

114

36.0

28

21.4

4

-

Fully collateralised

61

34.4

-

-

57

36.8

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

-

-

-

-

-

-

- 51% to 75%

57

36.8

-

-

57

36.8

- 76% to 90%

-

-

-

-

-

-

- 91% to 100%

4

-

-

-

-

-

Partially collateralised (D):

2

100.0

-

-

-

-

- collateral value on D

2

-

-

Total

177

36.2

28

21.4

61

34.4

At 31 Dec 2021

944,506

0.8

176,978

0.9

201,035

0.5

 

Wholesale lending - other corporate, commercial and financial (non-bank) loans and advances including loan commitments by level

of collateral for key countries/territories (by stage) (continued)

(Audited)

Of which:

Total

UK

Hong Kong

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

Stage 1

Not collateralised

617,592

0.2

122,554

0.4

95,061

0.1

Fully collateralised

110,528

0.2

28,232

0.3

40,207

0.1

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

37,991

0.1

7,367

0.3

14,744

0.1

- 51% to 75%

36,696

0.2

11,891

0.3

13,961

0.2

- 76% to 90%

13,542

0.2

2,624

0.4

6,522

0.1

- 91% to 100%

22,299

0.1

6,350

0.1

4,980

0.1

Partially collateralised (A):

52,892

0.2

6,826

0.5

19,163

0.1

- collateral value on A

25,903

3,524

9,208

Total

781,012

0.2

157,612

0.4

154,431

0.1

Stage 2

Not collateralised

118,959

1.6

37,430

2.6

19,466

0.4

Fully collateralised

37,753

1.3

9,316

2.1

15,044

0.8

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

11,992

1.3

2,498

1.5

3,920

0.7

- 51% to 75%

16,982

1.6

5,715

2.2

6,657

1.0

- 76% to 90%

3,727

1.2

502

3.2

2,150

0.7

- 91% to 100%

5,052

0.9

601

2.0

2,317

0.3

Partially collateralised (B):

16,829

1.5

3,984

2.7

3,849

0.9

- collateral value on B

9,425

1,714

2,104

Total

173,541

1.5

50,730

2.5

38,359

0.6

Stage 3

Not collateralised

7,852

50.0

2,793

28.5

865

66.0

Fully collateralised

1,939

17.3

585

7.9

342

6.4

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

637

24.0

151

8.6

83

6.0

- 51% to 75%

526

19.0

182

12.6

128

4.7

- 76% to 90%

294

9.2

211

1.9

49

14.3

- 91% to 100%

482

11.6

41

14.6

82

4.9

Partially collateralised (C):

2,847

35.5

553

23.1

592

26.4

- collateral value on C

1,619

337

322

Total

12,638

41.7

3,931

24.7

1,799

41.6

POCI

Not collateralised

211

39.8

54

63.0

1

-

Fully collateralised

63

41.3

-

-

45

51.1

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

6

50.0

-

-

-

-

- 51% to 75%

11

9.1

-

-

11

9.1

- 76% to 90%

34

64.7

-

-

34

64.7

- 91% to 100%

12

-

-

-

-

-

Partially collateralised (D):

4

75.0

-

-

-

-

- collateral value on D

4

-

-

Total

278

40.6

54

63.0

46

50.0

At 31 Dec 2020

967,469

1.0

212,327

1.3

194,635

0.6

 

Wholesale lending - other corporate, commercial and financial (non-bank) loans and advances including loan commitments by level

of collateral for key countries/territories

(Audited)

Of which:

Total

UK

Hong Kong

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

Rated CRR/PD8

Not collateralised

4,790

3.9

1,587

3.1

79

30.4

Fully collateralised

1,653

3.9

259

6.6

32

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

803

3.5

113

6.2

2

-

- 51% to 75%

583

3.8

110

8.2

1

-

- 76% to 90%

116

5.2

23

4.3

29

-

- 91% to 100%

151

5.3

13

-

-

-

Partially collateralised (A):

1,253

3.7

138

8.0

11

-

- collateral value on A

921

40

6

Total

7,696

3.9

1,984

3.9

122

20.5

Rated CRR/PD9 to 10

Not collateralised

8,239

47.1

3,007

21.5

736

74.3

Fully collateralised

2,335

13.3

1,212

3.4

297

9.1

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

604

20.9

249

4.8

75

-

- 51% to 75%

1,166

6.7

786

1.4

168

14.9

- 76% to 90%

295

11.5

115

9.6

26

-

- 91% to 100%

270

27.4

62

9.7

28

3.6

Partially collateralised (B):

2,137

38.7

318

35.5

616

28.9

- collateral value on B

1,203

186

358

Total

12,711

39.5

4,537

17.7

1,649

45.6

At 31 Dec 2021

20,407

26.1

6,521

13.5

1,771

43.8

 

Rated CRR/PD8

Not collateralised

3,787

7.1

924

8.7

103

25.2

Fully collateralised

1,107

5.2

171

9.4

15

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

269

4.1

29

10.3

1

-

- 51% to 75%

480

6.3

87

6.9

-

-

- 76% to 90%

140

5.0

13

23.1

14

-

- 91% to 100%

218

4.1

42

9.5

-

-

Partially collateralised (A):

493

8.1

174

9.2

27

3.7

- collateral value on A

352

83

13

Total

5,387

6.8

1,269

8.7

145

18.6

Rated CRR/PD9 to 10

Not collateralised

8,062

49.7

2,847

29.1

865

66.0

Fully collateralised

2,003

18.1

585

7.9

388

11.6

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

644

24.2

151

8.6

84

6.0

- 51% to 75%

538

18.8

182

12.6

139

5.0

- 76% to 90%

327

15.0

211

1.9

83

34.9

- 91% to 100%

494

11.3

41

14.6

82

4.9

Partially collateralised (B):

2,851

35.6

553

23.1

592

26.4

- collateral value on B

1,623

337

322

Total

12,916

41.7

3,985

25.2

1,845

41.8

At 31 Dec 2020

18,303

31.4

5,254

21.2

1,990

40.2

 

Other credit risk exposures

In addition to collateralised lending, other credit enhancements are employed and methods used to mitigate credit risk arising from financial assets. These are summarised below:

• Some securities issued by governments, banks and other financial institutions benefit from additional credit enhancements provided by government guarantees that cover the assets.

• Debt securities issued by banks and financial institutions include asset-backed securities ('ABSs') and similar instruments, which are supported by underlying pools of financial assets. Credit risk associated with ABSs is reduced through the purchase of credit default swap ('CDS') protection.

• Trading loans and advances mainly pledged against cash collateral are posted to satisfy margin requirements. There is limited credit risk on cash collateral posted since in the event of default of the counterparty this would be set off against the related liability. Reverse repos and stock borrowing are by their nature collateralised.

Collateral accepted as security that the Group is permitted to sell or repledge under these arrangements is described on page 358 of the financial statements.

• The Group's maximum exposure to credit risk includes financial guarantees and similar contracts granted, as well as loan and other credit-related commitments. Depending on the terms of the arrangement, we may use additional credit mitigation if a guarantee is called upon or a loan commitment is drawn and subsequently defaults.

For further information on these arrangements, see Note 32 on the financial statements.

Derivatives

We participate in transactions exposing us to counterparty credit risk. Counterparty credit risk is the risk of financial loss if the counterparty to a transaction defaults before satisfactorily settling it. It arises principally from over-the-counter ('OTC') derivatives and securities financing transactions and is calculated in both the trading and non-trading books. Transactions vary in value by reference to a market factor such as an interest rate, exchange rate or asset price.

The counterparty risk from derivative transactions is taken into account when reporting the fair value of derivative positions. The adjustment to the fair value is known as the credit valuation adjustment ('CVA').

For an analysis of CVAs, see Note 12 on the financial statements.

The following table reflects by risk type the fair values and gross notional contract amounts of derivatives cleared through an exchange, central counterparty or non-central counterparty.

 

Notional contract amounts and fair values of derivatives

2021

2020

Notional

Fair value

Notional

Fair value

amount

Assets

Liabilities

amount

Assets

Liabilities

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Total OTC derivatives

21,964,665

246,108

241,136

22,749,280

372,373

368,010

- total OTC derivatives cleared by central counterparties

10,086,344

59,147

60,686

9,898,260

74,054

75,253

- total OTC derivatives not cleared by central counterparties

11,878,321

186,961

180,450

12,851,020

298,319

292,757

Total exchange traded derivatives

1,359,692

4,152

3,306

1,332,438

4,456

4,094

Gross

23,324,357

250,260

244,442

24,081,718

376,829

372,104

Offset

(53,378)

(53,378)

(69,103)

(69,103)

At 31 Dec

196,882

191,064

307,726

303,001

 

The purposes for which HSBC uses derivatives are described in Note 15 on the financial statements.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association ('ISDA') master agreement is our preferred agreement for documenting derivatives activity. It is common, and our preferred practice, for the parties involved in a derivative transaction to execute a credit support annex ('CSA') in conjunction with the ISDA master agreement. Under a CSA, collateral is passed between the parties to mitigate the counterparty risk inherent in outstanding positions. The majority of our CSAs are with financial institutional clients.

We manage the counterparty exposure on our OTC derivative contracts by using collateral agreements with counterparties and netting agreements. Currently, we do not actively manage our general OTC derivative counterparty exposure in the credit markets, although we may manage individual exposures in certain circumstances.

We place strict policy restrictions on collateral types and as a consequence the types of collateral received and pledged are, by value, highly liquid and of a strong quality, being predominantly cash.

Where a collateral type is required to be approved outside the collateral policy, approval is required from a committee of senior representatives from Markets, Legal and Risk.

See page 378 and Note 30 on the financial statements for details regarding legally enforceable right of offset in the event of counterparty default and collateral received in respect of derivatives.

Personal lending

This section presents further disclosures related to personal lending. It provides details of the regions, countries and products that are driving the change observed in personal loans and advances to customers, with the impact of foreign exchange separately identified. Additionally, Hong Kong and UK mortgage book LTV data is provided.

This section also provides a reconciliation of the opening 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 closing gross carrying/nominal amounts and associated allowance for ECL. Further product granularity is also provided by stage, with geographical data presented for loans and advances to customers, loan and other credit-related commitments and financial guarantees.

 

At 31 December 2021, total personal lending for loans and advances to customers of $478bn increased by $17.5bn compared with 31 December 2020. This increase included adverse foreign exchange movements of $6.4bn. Excluding foreign exchange movements, there was growth of $24.0bn, primarily driven by $11.4bn in Asia and $10.2bn in Europe. The allowance for ECL attributable to personal lending, excluding off-balance sheet loan commitments and guarantees and foreign exchange movements, decreased $1.5bn to $3.1bn at 31 December 2021.

Excluding foreign exchange movements, total personal lending was primarily driven by mortgage growth, which grew by $22.8bn. Mortgages grew $10.1bn in the UK; $9.9bn in Asia, notably $6.6bn in Hong Kong and $2.1bn in Australia; and $3.4bn in Canada. This was partly offset by a decrease of $1.8bn due to domestic mass market retail banking in the US being reclassified to assets held for sale. The allowance for ECL, excluding foreign exchange, attributable to mortgages of $0.7bn decreased by $0.1bn compared with 31 December 2020.

The quality of both our Hong Kong and UK mortgage books remained high, with low levels of impairment allowances. The average LTV ratio on new mortgage lending in Hong Kong was 62%, compared with an estimated 47% for the overall mortgage portfolio. The average LTV ratio on new lending in the UK was 67%, compared with an estimated 51% for the overall mortgage portfolio.

Excluding foreign exchange movements, other personal lending balances at 31 December 2021 increased by $1.2bn compared with 31 December 2020, mainly from unsecured personal lending in Hong Kong (up $1.0bn) and in Latin America (up $0.7bn), as well as from guaranteed loans in respect of residential property in France (up $0.8bn). These were offset by a decrease in credit cards mainly in the US (down $0.9bn).

The allowance for ECL, excluding foreign exchange, attributable to other personal lending of $2.4bn decreased by $1.5bn compared with 31 December 2020. Excluding foreign exchange, the allowance for ECL attributable to credit cards decreased by $0.9bn while unsecured personal lending decreased by $0.6bn.

Total personal lending for loans and advances to customers at amortised cost by stage distribution

Gross carrying amount

Allowance for ECL

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

By portfolio

First lien residential mortgages

360,686

7,637

3,045

371,368

(128)

(131)

(416)

(675)

- of which: interest only (including offset)

28,506

1,795

255

30,556

(5)

(24)

(81)

(110)

- affordability (including US adjustable rate mortgages)

13,621

712

452

14,785

(6)

(6)

(5)

(17)

Other personal lending

96,270

8,802

1,897

106,969

(530)

(1,088)

(810)

(2,428)

- second lien residential mortgages

314

44

37

395

(1)

(4)

(9)

(14)

- guaranteed loans in respect of residential property

20,643

731

236

21,610

(9)

(7)

(42)

(58)

- other personal lending which is secured

36,533

1,096

366

37,995

(21)

(15)

(120)

(156)

- credit cards

18,623

3,897

338

22,858

(246)

(675)

(214)

(1,135)

- other personal lending which is unsecured

18,743

2,820

915

22,478

(240)

(378)

(421)

(1,039)

- motor vehicle finance

1,414

214

5

1,633

(13)

(9)

(4)

(26)

- IPO loans

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

At 31 Dec 2021

456,956

16,439

4,942

478,337

(658)

(1,219)

(1,226)

(3,103)

By geography

Europe

212,284

5,639

2,148

220,071

(199)

(499)

(637)

(1,335)

- of which: UK

176,547

4,668

1,488

182,703

(167)

(480)

(399)

(1,046)

Asia

187,391

7,796

1,303

196,490

(158)

(381)

(226)

(765)

- of which: Hong Kong

125,854

4,959

202

131,015

(65)

(231)

(43)

(339)

MENA

4,965

252

202

5,419

(38)

(40)

(94)

(172)

North America

43,489

2,126

1,005

46,620

(43)

(67)

(118)

(228)

Latin America

8,827

626

284

9,737

(220)

(232)

(151)

(603)

At 31 Dec 2021

456,956

16,439

4,942

478,337

(658)

(1,219)

(1,226)

(3,103)

 

Total personal lending for loans and other credit-related commitments and financial guarantees by stage distribution

Nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Europe

57,109

558

107

57,774

(11)

(1)

-

(12)

- of which: UK

54,704

407

104

55,215

(10)

(1)

-

(11)

Asia

160,248

894

21

161,163

-

-

-

-

- of which: Hong Kong

121,597

292

19

121,908

-

-

-

-

MENA

2,568

30

16

2,614

(5)

-

-

(5)

North America

15,039

251

23

15,313

(15)

(1)

-

(16)

Latin America

3,920

29

2

3,951

(6)

-

-

(6)

At 31 Dec 2021

238,884

1,762

169

240,815

(37)

(2)

-

(39)

 

Total personal lending for loans and advances to customers at amortised cost by stage distribution (continued)1

Gross carrying amount

Allowance for ECL

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

By portfolio

First lien residential mortgages

336,666

12,233

3,383

352,282

(125)

(188)

(442)

(755)

- of which: interest only (including offset)

29,143

3,074

351

32,568

(9)

(19)

(88)

(116)

- affordability (including US adjustable rate mortgages)

13,265

2,209

606

16,080

(11)

(11)

(5)

(27)

Other personal lending

93,468

12,831

2,228

108,527

(702)

(2,214)

(1,060)

(3,976)

- second lien residential mortgages

593

100

51

744

(3)

(9)

(10)

(22)

- guaranteed loans in respect of residential property

21,558

835

159

22,552

(4)

(7)

(32)

(43)

- other personal lending which is secured

36,230

1,357

448

38,035

(13)

(19)

(127)

(159)

- credit cards

17,327

5,292

680

23,299

(386)

(1,281)

(380)

(2,047)

- other personal lending which is unsecured

16,338

5,096

882

22,316

(288)

(888)

(506)

(1,682)

- motor vehicle finance

1,374

151

8

1,533

(8)

(10)

(5)

(23)

- IPO loans

48

-

-

48

-

-

-

-

At 31 Dec 2020

430,134

25,064

5,611

460,809

(827)

(2,402)

(1,502)

(4,731)

By geography

Europe

200,120

11,032

2,511

213,663

(247)

(1,271)

(826)

(2,344)

- of which: UK

163,338

9,476

1,721

174,535

(223)

(1,230)

(545)

(1,998)

Asia

178,175

7,969

1,169

187,313

(234)

(446)

(241)

(921)

- of which: Hong Kong

118,252

5,133

206

123,591

(102)

(237)

(48)

(387)

MENA

4,879

403

251

5,533

(54)

(112)

(152)

(318)

North America

40,387

4,613

1,378

46,378

(93)

(200)

(132)

(425)

Latin America

6,573

1,047

302

7,922

(199)

(373)

(151)

(723)

At 31 Dec 2020

430,134

25,064

5,611

460,809

(827)

(2,402)

(1,502)

(4,731)

1 During the period, the Group has re-presented the other personal lending with additional granularity.

Total personal lending for loans and other credit-related commitments and financial guarantees by stage distribution (continued)

Nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Europe

56,920

719

96

57,735

(22)

(2)

-

(24)

- of which: UK

54,348

435

92

54,875

(21)

(2)

-

(23)

Asia

156,057

790

11

156,858

-

-

-

-

- of which: Hong Kong

118,529

10

10

118,549

-

-

-

-

MENA

2,935

46

8

2,989

(1)

-

-

(1)

North America

15,835

124

38

15,997

(11)

-

-

(11)

Latin America

3,462

28

1

3,491

(5)

-

-

(5)

At 31 Dec 2020

235,209

1,707

154

237,070

(39)

(2)

-

(41)

 

Exposure to UK interest-only mortgage loans

The following information is presented for HSBC branded UK interest-only mortgage loans with balances of $15.2bn. This excludes offset mortgages in the first direct brand and Private Bank mortgages.

At the end of 2021, the average LTV ratio in the portfolio was 40% and 99% of mortgages had an LTV ratio of 75% or less.

Of the interest-only mortgage loans that expired in 2019, 89%

 

were repaid within 12 months of expiry with a total of 91% being repaid within 24 months of expiry. For those expiring during 2020, 73% were repaid within 12 months of expiry. The drop in the amount fully repaid within the 12 months is explained by the extensions granted as part of the FCA guidance on helping borrowers with maturing interest-only mortgages during the pandemic that ended in October 2021. Excluding the extensions, only $3.9m remains outstanding.

The profile of maturing UK interest-only loans is as follows:

UK interest-only mortgage loans

$m

Expired interest-only mortgage loans

167

Interest-only mortgage loans by maturity

- 2022

267

- 2023

401

- 2024

330

- 2025

420

- 2026-2030

3,288

- post-2030

10,333

At 31 Dec 2021

15,206

 

Expired interest-only mortgage loans

169

Interest-only mortgage loans by maturity

- 2021

356

- 2022

392

- 2023

500

- 2024

407

- 2025-2029

3,317

- post-2030

9,914

At 31 Dec 2020

15,055

 

Exposure to offset mortgage in first direct

The offset mortgage in first direct is a flexible way for our customers to take control of their finances. It works by grouping together the customer's mortgage, savings and current accounts to offset their credit and debit balances against their mortgage exposure.

 

At 31 December 2021, exposures were worth a total $7.0bn with an average LTV ratio of 35% (31 December 2020: $8.6bn exposure and 37% LTV ratio).

Personal lending - reconciliation of changes in gross carrying/nominal amount and allowances for loans and advances to

customers including loan commitments and financial guarantees

(Audited)

Non-credit impaired

Credit impaired

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

Gross carrying/ nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Gross carrying/ nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Gross carrying/ nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Gross carrying/ nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

At 1 Jan 2021

665,346

(866)

26,770

(2,405)

5,762

(1,503)

697,878

(4,774)

Transfers of financial instruments

1,822

(1,154)

(4,502)

1,713

2,680

(559)

-

-

Net remeasurement of ECL arising from transfer of stage

-

825

-

(363)

-

(7)

-

455

Net new and further lending/repayments

39,946

148

(2,877)

533

(1,517)

270

35,552

951

Change in risk parameters - credit quality

-

318

-

(778)

-

(1,007)

-

(1,467)

Changes to models used for ECL calculation

-

(2)

-

-

-

1

-

(1)

Assets written off

-

-

-

-

(1,525)

1,520

(1,525)

1,520

Foreign exchange and other1

(11,274)

36

(1,190)

79

(289)

59

(12,753)

174

At 31 Dec 2021

695,840

(695)

18,201

(1,221)

5,111

(1,226)

719,152

(3,142)

ECL income statement change for the period

1,289

(608)

(743)

(62)

Recoveries

355

Other

(9)

Total ECL income statement change for the period

284

1 Total includes $3.0bn of gross carrying loans and advances to customers, which were classified to assets held for sale and a corresponding allowance for ECL of $123m, reflecting our exit of the domestic mass market retail banking in the US.

As shown in the above table, the allowance for ECL for loans and advances to customers and relevant loan commitments and financial guarantees decreased $1,632m during the period from $4,774m at 31 December 2020 to $3,142m at 31 December 2021.

This decrease was primarily driven by:

• $1,520m of assets written off;

• $951m relating to volume movements, which included the ECL allowance associated with new originations, assets derecognised and further lending/repayment;

• $455m relating to the net remeasurement impact of stage transfers; and 

• foreign exchange and other movements of $174m.

These were partly offset by:

• $1,467m relating to underlying credit quality changes, including

the credit quality impact of financial instruments transferring between stages.

The ECL charge for the period of $62m presented in the above table consisted of $1,467m relating to underlying credit quality changes, including the credit quality impact of financial instruments transferring between stages. This was partly offset by $951m relating to underlying net book volume movements and $455m relating to the net remeasurement impact of stage transfers.

The net transfer of gross carrying/nominal amounts to stage 1 of $1,822m reflects the overall improvement in the economic outlook as the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak subsided. It was primarily driven by $2,854m in Europe and $1,074m in North America, and was partly offset by a net transfer out of stage 1 of $2,346m in Asia, mainly driven by management judgemental adjustments primarily in Hong Kong during 1H21.

Personal lending - reconciliation of changes in gross carrying/nominal amount and allowances for loans and advances to customers

including loan commitments and financial guarantees

(Audited)

Non-credit impaired

Credit impaired

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

Gross carrying/ nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Gross carrying/ nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Gross carrying/ nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Gross carrying/ nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

At 1 Jan 2020

635,961

(597)

17,382

(1,338)

5,046

(1,215)

658,389

(3,150)

Transfers of financial instruments

(16,019)

(629)

13,370

1,181

2,649

(552)

-

-

Net remeasurement of ECL arising from transfer of stage

-

431

-

(555)

-

(8)

-

(132)

Net new and further lending/repayments

30,891

101

(5,407)

408

(677)

150

24,807

659

Change in risk parameters - credit quality

-

(147)

-

(2,025)

-

(1,258)

-

(3,430)

Changes to models used for ECL calculation

-

(3)

-

(9)

-

5

-

(7)

Assets written off

-

-

-

-

(1,409)

1,407

(1,409)

1,407

Foreign exchange and other

14,513

(22)

1,425

(67)

153

(32)

16,091

(121)

At 31 Dec 2020

665,346

(866)

26,770

(2,405)

5,762

(1,503)

697,878

(4,774)

ECL income statement change for the period

382

(2,181)

(1,111)

(2,910)

Recoveries

280

Other

(25)

Total ECL income statement change for the period

(2,655)

 

 

 

 

Personal lending - credit risk profile by internal PD band for loans and advances to customers at amortised cost

Gross carrying amount

Allowance for ECL

PD range1

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Total

ECL coverage

%

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

%

First lien residential mortgages

360,686

7,637

3,045

371,368

(128)

(131)

(416)

(675)

0.2

- Band 1

0.000 to 0.250

310,042

451

-

310,493

(30)

(5)

-

(35)

-

- Band 2

0.251 to 0.500

19,741

203

-

19,944

(7)

(2)

-

(9)

-

- Band 3

0.501 to 1.500

25,835

1,936

-

27,771

(79)

(8)

-

(87)

0.3

- Band 4

1.501 to 5.000

4,976

2,657

-

7,633

(12)

(30)

-

(42)

0.6

- Band 5

5.001 to 20.000

88

1,416

-

1,504

-

(35)

-

(35)

2.3

- Band 6

20.001 to 99.999

4

974

-

978

-

(51)

-

(51)

5.2

- Band 7

100.000

-

-

3,045

3,045

-

-

(416)

(416)

13.7

Other personal lending

96,270

8,802

1,897

106,969

(530)

(1,088)

(810)

(2,428)

2.3

- Band 1

0.000 to 0.250

45,049

187

-

45,236

(50)

(13)

-

(63)

0.1

- Band 2

0.251 to 0.500

12,625

605

-

13,230

(27)

(6)

-

(33)

0.2

- Band 3

0.501 to 1.500

22,791

1,518

-

24,309

(102)

(30)

-

(132)

0.5

- Band 4

1.501 to 5.000

13,006

2,360

-

15,366

(213)

(108)

-

(321)

2.1

- Band 5

5.001 to 20.000

2,732

3,257

-

5,989

(138)

(554)

-

(692)

11.6

- Band 6

20.001 to 99.999

67

875

-

942

-

(377)

-

(377)

40.0

- Band 7

100.000

-

-

1,897

1,897

-

-

(810)

(810)

42.7

At 31 Dec 2021

456,956

16,439

4,942

478,337

(658)

(1,219)

(1,226)

(3,103)

0.6

 

First lien residential mortgages

336,666

12,233

3,383

352,282

(125)

(188)

(442)

(755)

0.2

- Band 1

0.000 to 0.250

284,252

1,283

-

285,535

(36)

(3)

-

(39)

-

- Band 2

0.251 to 0.500

16,259

302

-

16,561

(9)

(3)

-

(12)

0.1

- Band 3

0.501 to 1.500

27,055

1,755

-

28,810

(64)

(8)

-

(72)

0.2

- Band 4

1.501 to 5.000

8,858

5,134

-

13,992

(15)

(32)

-

(47)

0.3

- Band 5

5.001 to 20.000

238

1,806

-

2,044

(1)

(41)

-

(42)

2.1

- Band 6

20.001 to 99.999

4

1,953

-

1,957

-

(101)

-

(101)

5.2

- Band 7

100.000

-

-

3,383

3,383

-

-

(442)

(442)

13.1

Other personal lending

93,468

12,831

2,228

108,527

(702)

(2,214)

(1,060)

(3,976)

3.7

- Band 1

0.000 to 0.250

41,565

589

-

42,154

(96)

(8)

-

(104)

0.2

- Band 2

0.251 to 0.500

13,053

518

-

13,571

(31)

(63)

-

(94)

0.7

- Band 3

0.501 to 1.500

23,802

1,280

-

25,082

(108)

(37)

-

(145)

0.6

- Band 4

1.501 to 5.000

11,787

2,175

-

13,962

(270)

(112)

-

(382)

2.7

- Band 5

5.001 to 20.000

3,234

5,288

-

8,522

(197)

(821)

-

(1,018)

11.9

- Band 6

20.001 to 99.999

27

2,981

-

3,008

-

(1,173)

-

(1,173)

39.0

- Band 7

100.000

-

-

2,228

2,228

-

-

(1,060)

(1,060)

47.6

At 31 Dec 2020

430,134

25,064

5,611

460,809

(827)

(2,402)

(1,502)

(4,731)

1.0

1 12-month point in time adjusted for multiple economic scenarios.

Collateral on loans and advances

(Audited)

The following table provides a quantification of the value of fixed charges we hold over specific assets where we have a history of enforcing, and are able to enforce, collateral in satisfying a debt in the event of the borrower failing to meet its contractual

 

obligations, and where the collateral is cash or can be realised by sale in an established market. The collateral valuation excludes any adjustments for obtaining and selling the collateral and, in particular, loans shown as not collateralised or partially collateralised may also benefit from other forms of credit mitigants.

Personal lending - residential mortgage loans including loan commitments by level of collateral for key countries/territories by stage

(Audited)

Of which:

Total

UK

Hong Kong

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

Stage 1

Fully collateralised

377,454

-

168,737

-

98,020

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

190,370

-

81,582

-

61,234

-

- 51% to 60%

64,217

-

28,555

-

12,070

-

- 61% to 70%

51,842

-

25,949

-

4,649

-

- 71% to 80%

46,932

0.1

24,114

-

8,360

-

- 81% to 90%

18,778

0.1

7,899

-

8,420

-

- 91% to 100%

5,315

0.1

638

-

3,287

-

Partially collateralised (A):

682

0.3

358

-

30

-

LTV ratio:

- 101% to 110%

254

0.6

104

-

26

-

- 111% to 120%

98

0.4

60

-

1

-

- greater than 120%

330

0.1

194

-

3

-

- collateral value on A

484

235

28

Total

378,136

-

169,095

-

98,050

-

Stage 2

Fully collateralised

7,710

1.7

2,738

2.1

1,166

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

4,380

1.5

1,846

1.6

905

-

- 51% to 60%

1,317

1.4

397

2.4

106

-

- 61% to 70%

1,016

1.6

282

3.0

34

-

- 71% to 80%

725

2.3

175

4.7

50

-

- 81% to 90%

208

4.3

32

5.6

58

-

- 91% to 100%

64

4.1

6

1.9

13

-

Partially collateralised (B):

24

13.6

3

7.7

-

-

LTV ratio:

- 101% to 110%

7

18.6

1

1.0

-

-

- 111% to 120%

8

16.6

-

-

-

-

- greater than 120%

9

6.7

2

11.1

-

-

- collateral value on B

20

2

-

Total

7,734

1.7

2,741

2.1

1,166

-

Stage 3

Fully collateralised

2,853

11.5

954

14.2

68

0.3

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

1,490

9.2

635

13.0

48

0.5

- 51% to 60%

443

8.6

129

14.0

10

0.1

- 61% to 70%

371

10.9

79

16.2

2

0.1

- 71% to 80%

256

15.4

67

19.1

3

-

- 81% to 90%

171

20.4

21

25.2

4

-

- 91% to 100%

122

32.2

23

18.6

1

-

Partially collateralised (C):

220

39.6

7

30.8

-

-

LTV ratio:

- 101% to 110%

56

27.5

4

22.3

-

-

- 111% to 120%

29

29.2

-

-

-

-

- greater than 120%

135

46.9

3

45.5

-

-

- collateral value on C

143

6

-

Total

3,073

13.5

961

14.4

68

0.3

At 31 Dec 2021

388,943

0.2

172,797

0.1

99,284

-

 

Personal lending - residential mortgage loans including loan commitments by level of collateral for key countries/territories by stage

(continued)

(Audited)

Of which:

Total

UK

Hong Kong

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

Gross carrying/nominal amount

ECL coverage

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

Stage 1

Fully collateralised

354,102

-

159,562

-

90,733

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

174,370

-

76,535

-

54,866

-

- 51% to 60%

60,180

-

23,967

-

14,253

-

- 61% to 70%

48,159

-

23,381

-

6,042

-

- 71% to 80%

40,395

0.1

20,846

-

4,288

-

- 81% to 90%

23,339

0.1

12,936

-

6,837

-

- 91% to 100%

7,659

0.1

1,897

0.1

4,447

-

Partially collateralised (A):

973

0.4

289

-

336

-

LTV ratio:

- 101% to 110%

592

0.4

84

-

334

-

- 111% to 120%

101

0.5

45

-

-

-

- greater than 120%

280

0.3

160

-

2

-

- collateral value on A

847

212

328

Total

355,075

-

159,851

-

91,069

-

Stage 2

Fully collateralised

12,252

1.5

4,229

1.4

1,802

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

6,694

1.1

2,442

1.2

1,256

-

- 51% to 60%

2,223

1.1

730

1.3

253

-

- 61% to 70%

1,779

1.6

606

1.3

83

-

- 71% to 80%

987

2.8

244

2.9

111

-

- 81% to 90%

400

4.9

139

3.6

60

-

- 91% to 100%

169

5.7

68

3.3

39

-

Partially collateralised (B):

53

13.6

4

3.3

9

-

LTV ratio:

- 101% to 110%

28

11.9

3

1.5

9

-

- 111% to 120%

9

16.8

-

-

-

-

- greater than 120%

16

14.8

1

8.5

-

-

- collateral value on B

47

4

9

Total

12,305

1.5

4,233

1.4

1,811

-

Stage 3

Fully collateralised

3,083

9.8

1,050

12.3

63

-

LTV ratio:

- less than 50%

1,472

8.0

676

10.9

53

-

- 51% to 60%

505

8.7

144

15.1

6

-

- 61% to 70%

435

9.2

112

12.9

-

-

- 71% to 80%

378

11.5

81

13.7

2

-

- 81% to 90%

195

17.3

28

22.4

2

-

- 91% to 100%

98

24.3

9

17.8

-

-

Partially collateralised (C):

328

42.7

17

22.9

-

-

LTV ratio:

- 101% to 110%

75

30.4

9

16.7

-

-

- 111% to 120%

56

38.8

5

17.6

-

-

- greater than 120%

197

48.5

3

50.3

-

-

- collateral value on C

228

10

1

Total

3,411

13.0

1,067

12.5

63

-

At 31 Dec 2020

370,791

0.2

165,151

0.1

92,943

-

 

Supplementary information

 

Wholesale lending - loans and advances to customers at amortised cost by country/territory

Gross carrying amount

Allowance for ECL

Corporate and commercial

Of which: real estate1

Non-bank financial institutions

Total

Corporate and commercial

Of which: real estate1

Non-bank financial institutions

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Europe

163,341

23,137

17,818

181,159

(2,770)

(546)

(41)

(2,811)

- UK

115,386

16,233

11,306

126,692

(1,855)

(489)

(32)

(1,887)

- France

34,488

5,520

4,391

38,879

(654)

(47)

(2)

(656)

- Germany

6,746

306

987

7,733

(120)

-

(3)

(123)

- Switzerland

1,188

731

688

1,876

(8)

-

-

(8)

- other

5,533

347

446

5,979

(133)

(10)

(4)

(137)

Asia

263,821

81,453

36,321

300,142

(3,297)

(731)

(44)

(3,341)

- Hong Kong

162,684

62,792

20,182

182,866

(1,585)

(624)

(7)

(1,592)

- Australia

9,937

2,596

717

10,654

(108)

(3)

-

(108)

- India

8,221

1,786

4,003

12,224

(84)

(29)

(8)

(92)

- Indonesia

3,436

86

226

3,662

(246)

(2)

(1)

(247)

- mainland China

33,555

6,811

9,359

42,914

(198)

(41)

(28)

(226)

- Malaysia

7,229

1,741

197

7,426

(172)

(21)

-

(172)

- Singapore

16,401

4,158

782

17,183

(792)

(5)

-

(792)

- Taiwan

6,291

31

47

6,338

-

-

-

-

- other

16,067

1,452

808

16,875

(112)

(6)

-

(112)

Middle East and North Africa (excluding Saudi Arabia)

21,963

1,555

376

22,339

(1,207)

(158)

(3)

(1,210)

- Egypt

1,788

69

152

1,940

(161)

(7)

-

(161)

- UAE

12,942

1,370

190

13,132

(811)

(149)

-

(811)

- other

7,233

116

34

7,267

(235)

(2)

(3)

(238)

North America

52,577

13,639

10,197

62,774

(427)

(87)

(18)

(445)

- US

27,002

5,895

8,511

35,513

(207)

(64)

(1)

(208)

- Canada

25,048

7,650

1,546

26,594

(198)

(15)

(6)

(204)

- other

527

94

140

667

(22)

(8)

(11)

(33)

Latin America

11,837

1,476

643

12,480

(503)

(122)

(4)

(507)

- Mexico

9,561

1,475

618

10,179

(452)

(122)

(4)

(456)

- other

2,276

1

25

2,301

(51)

-

-

(51)

At 31 Dec 2021

513,539

121,260

65,355

578,894

(8,204)

(1,644)

(110)

(8,314)

 

Europe

179,104

26,505

22,176

201,280

(3,918)

(632)

(185)

(4,103)

- UK

128,933

18,890

16,165

145,098

(2,958)

(574)

(147)

(3,105)

- France

32,278

5,740

3,557

35,835

(645)

(40)

(26)

(671)

- Germany

8,309

364

1,156

9,465

(125)

-

(3)

(128)

- Switzerland

1,489

576

513

2,002

(14)

-

-

(14)

- other

8,095

935

785

8,880

(176)

(18)

(9)

(185)

Asia

257,942

82,359

31,637

289,579

(2,766)

(162)

(38)

(2,804)

- Hong Kong

162,039

64,216

18,406

180,445

(1,180)

(83)

(15)

(1,195)

- Australia

9,769

1,813

1,348

11,117

(95)

(2)

-

(95)

- India

7,223

1,951

3,075

10,298

(90)

(18)

(4)

(94)

- Indonesia

3,699

81

246

3,945

(229)

(2)

-

(229)

- mainland China

28,443

6,251

7,128

35,571

(187)

(23)

(18)

(205)

- Malaysia

7,228

1,968

123

7,351

(86)

(27)

-

(86)

- Singapore

18,859

4,637

362

19,221

(782)

(2)

-

(782)

- Taiwan

6,115

50

60

6,175

-

-

-

-

- other

14,567

1,392

889

15,456

(117)

(5)

(1)

(118)

Middle East and North Africa (excluding Saudi Arabia)

24,625

1,839

379

25,004

(1,512)

(187)

(9)

(1,521)

- Egypt

2,162

37

13

2,175

(157)

(7)

(3)

(160)

- UAE

13,485

1,690

170

13,655

(1,019)

(176)

(2)

(1,021)

- other

8,978

112

196

9,174

(336)

(4)

(4)

(340)

North America

53,386

14,491

9,292

62,678

(637)

(73)

(23)

(660)

- US

30,425

7,722

7,708

38,133

(367)

(38)

(3)

(370)

- Canada

22,361

6,645

1,440

23,801

(243)

(27)

(9)

(252)

- other

600

124

144

744

(27)

(8)

(11)

(38)

Latin America

12,031

1,833

1,096

13,127

(661)

(113)

(10)

(671)

- Mexico

10,244

1,832

1,083

11,327

(589)

(113)

(10)

(599)

- other

1,787

1

13

1,800

(72)

-

-

(72)

At 31 Dec 2020

527,088

127,027

64,580

591,668

(9,494)

(1,167)

(265)

(9,759)

1 Real estate lending within this disclosure corresponds solely to the industry of the borrower. Commercial real estate on page 168 includes borrowers in multiple industries investing in income-producing assets and to a lesser extent, their construction and development.

 

Personal lending - loans and advances to customers at amortised cost by country/territory

Gross carrying amount

Allowance for ECL

First lien residential mortgages

Other personal

Of which: credit cards

Total

First lien residential mortgages

Other personal

Of which: credit cards

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Europe

170,818

49,253

8,624

220,071

(329)

(1,006)

(437)

(1,335)

- UK

163,549

19,154

8,213

182,703

(223)

(823)

(434)

(1,046)

- France1

3,124

22,908

366

26,032

(38)

(91)

(3)

(129)

- Germany

-

282

-

282

-

-

-

-

- Switzerland

1,367

6,615

-

7,982

-

(75)

-

(75)

- other

2,778

294

45

3,072

(68)

(17)

-

(85)

Asia

149,709

46,781

11,413

196,490

(59)

(706)

(428)

(765)

- Hong Kong

98,019

32,996

8,154

131,015

(1)

(338)

(217)

(339)

- Australia

21,149

504

427

21,653

(5)

(33)

(32)

(38)

- India

981

543

181

1,524

(10)

(30)

(20)

(40)

- Indonesia

76

272

147

348

(1)

(20)

(14)

(21)

- mainland China

10,525

1,103

563

11,628

(4)

(72)

(66)

(76)

- Malaysia

2,532

2,657

791

5,189

(33)

(122)

(34)

(155)

- Singapore

7,811

6,649

367

14,460

-

(40)

(13)

(40)

- Taiwan

5,672

1,188

271

6,860

-

(17)

(5)

(17)

- other

2,944

869

512

3,813

(5)

(34)

(27)

(39)

Middle East and North Africa (excluding Saudi Arabia)

2,262

3,157

761

5,419

(26)

(146)

(60)

(172)

- Egypt

-

368

98

368

-

(3)

(1)

(3)

- UAE

1,924

1,232

417

3,156

(18)

(88)

(39)

(106)

- other

338

1,557

246

1,895

(8)

(55)

(20)

(63)

North America

43,529

3,091

555

46,620

(141)

(87)

(47)

(228)

- US

16,642

799

232

17,441

(12)

(53)

(36)

(65)

- Canada

25,773

2,123

284

27,896

(33)

(27)

(8)

(60)

- other

1,114

169

39

1,283

(96)

(7)

(3)

(103)

Latin America

5,050

4,687

1,505

9,737

(120)

(483)

(163)

(603)

- Mexico

4,882

4,006

1,172

8,888

(119)

(450)

(148)

(569)

- other

168

681

333

849

(1)

(33)

(15)

(34)

At 31 Dec 2021

371,368

106,969

22,858

478,337

(675)

(2,428)

(1,135)

(3,103)

 

Europe

162,630

51,033

8,471

213,663

(364)

(1,980)

(859)

(2,344)

- UK

154,839

19,696

8,064

174,535

(236)

(1,762)

(852)

(1,998)

- France1

3,623

23,982

358

27,605

(43)

(120)

(5)

(163)

- Germany

-

368

-

368

-

-

-

-

- Switzerland

1,195

6,641

-

7,836

-

(79)

-

(79)

- other

2,973

346

49

3,319

(85)

(19)

(2)

(104)

Asia

141,581

45,732

11,186

187,313

(80)

(841)

(563)

(921)

- Hong Kong

91,997

31,594

7,573

123,591

-

(387)

(265)

(387)

- Australia

20,320

602

514

20,922

(12)

(47)

(45)

(59)

- India

933

544

215

1,477

(9)

(45)

(34)

(54)

- Indonesia

71

288

167

359

-

(37)

(26)

(37)

- mainland China

9,679

1,155

644

10,834

(6)

(81)

(73)

(87)

- Malaysia

2,797

2,964

841

5,761

(41)

(102)

(35)

(143)

- Singapore

7,394

6,537

375

13,931

-

(55)

(17)

(55)

- Taiwan

5,407

1,069

277

6,476

-

(15)

(5)

(15)

- other

2,983

979

580

3,962

(12)

(72)

(63)

(84)

Middle East and North Africa (excluding Saudi Arabia)

2,192

3,341

863

5,533

(43)

(275)

(142)

(318)

- Egypt

-

360

89

360

-

(8)

(3)

(8)

- UAE

1,841

1,158

432

2,999

(37)

(163)

(92)

(200)

- other

351

1,823

342

2,174

(6)

(104)

(47)

(110)

North America

41,826

4,552

1,373

46,378

(159)

(266)

(193)

(425)

- US

18,430

2,141

1,091

20,571

(26)

(226)

(182)

(252)

- Canada

22,241

2,230

244

24,471

(36)

(31)

(10)

(67)

- other

1,155

181

38

1,336

(97)

(9)

(1)

(106)

Latin America

4,053

3,869

1,406

7,922

(109)

(614)

(290)

(723)

- Mexico

3,901

3,351

1,119

7,252

(107)

(578)

(268)

(685)

- other

152

518

287

670

(2)

(36)

(22)

(38)

At 31 Dec 2020

352,282

108,527

23,299

460,809

(755)

(3,976)

(2,047)

(4,731)

1 Included in other personal lending at 31 December 2021 is $19,972m (31 December 2020: $20,625m) guaranteed by Crédit Logement.

 

Summary of financial instruments to which the impairment requirements in IFRS 9 are applied - by global business

Gross carrying/nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

POCI

Total

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

POCI

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Loans and advances to customers at amortised cost

918,936

119,224

18,797

274

1,057,231

(1,367)

(3,119)

(6,867)

(64)

(11,417)

- WPB

469,477

17,285

5,211

-

491,973

(664)

(1,247)

(1,276)

-

(3,187)

- CMB

267,517

76,798

11,462

245

356,022

(571)

(1,369)

(4,904)

(53)

(6,897)

- GBM

181,247

25,085

2,124

29

208,485

(132)

(493)

(687)

(11)

(1,323)

- Corporate Centre

695

56

-

-

751

-

(10)

-

-

(10)

Loans and advances to banks at amortised cost

81,636

1,517

-

-

83,153

(14)

(3)

-

-

(17)

- WPB

20,464

481

-

-

20,945

(1)

(1)

-

-

(2)

- CMB

15,269

352

-

-

15,621

(1)

-

-

-

(1)

- GBM

36,875

654

-

-

37,529

(10)

(2)

-

-

(12)

- Corporate Centre

9,028

30

-

-

9,058

(2)

-

-

-

(2)

Other financial assets measured at amortised cost

875,016

4,988

304

43

880,351

(91)

(54)

(42)

(6)

(193)

- WPB

207,335

1,407

175

43

208,960

(51)

(44)

(14)

(6)

(115)

- CMB

163,457

2,370

61

-

165,888

(12)

(8)

(20)

-

(40)

- GBM

409,808

1,204

62

-

411,074

(28)

(2)

(8)

-

(38)

- Corporate Centre

94,416

7

6

-

94,429

-

-

-

-

-

Total gross carrying amount on-balance sheet at 31 Dec 2021

1,875,588

125,729

19,101

317

2,020,735

(1,472)

(3,176)

(6,909)

(70)

(11,627)

Loans and other credit-related commitments

594,473

32,389

775

-

627,637

(165)

(174)

(40)

-

(379)

- WPB

235,722

2,111

153

-

237,986

(37)

(3)

-

-

(40)

- CMB

126,728

17,490

555

-

144,773

(80)

(118)

(37)

-

(235)

- GBM

231,890

12,788

67

-

244,745

(48)

(53)

(3)

-

(104)

- Corporate Centre

133

-

-

-

133

-

-

-

-

-

Financial guarantees

24,932

2,638

225

-

27,795

(11)

(30)

(21)

-

(62)

- WPB

1,295

15

1

-

1,311

-

(1)

-

-

(1)

- CMB

6,105

1,606

126

-

7,837

(7)

(16)

(17)

-

(40)

- GBM

17,531

1,017

98

-

18,646

(4)

(13)

(4)

-

(21)

- Corporate Centre

1

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

Total nominal amount off-balance sheet at 31 Dec 2021

619,405

35,027

1,000

-

655,432

(176)

(204)

(61)

-

(441)

WPB

143,373

718

-

35

144,126

(20)

(7)

-

(5)

(32)

CMB

86,247

471

-

10

86,728

(11)

(1)

-

(1)

(13)

GBM

111,473

526

-

1

112,000

(13)

(2)

-

-

(15)

Corporate Centre

4,038

311

-

-

4,349

(25)

(11)

-

-

(36)

Debt instruments measured at FVOCI at

31 Dec 2021

345,131

2,026

-

46

347,203

(69)

(21)

-

(6)

(96)

 

Summary of financial instruments to which the impairment requirements in IFRS 9 are applied - by global business (continued)

Gross carrying/nominal amount

Allowance for ECL

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

POCI

Total

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

POCI

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Loans and advances to customers at amortised cost

869,920

163,185

19,095

277

1,052,477

(1,974)

(4,965)

(7,439)

(112)

(14,490)

- WPB

442,641

25,694

5,753

-

474,088

(854)

(2,458)

(1,590)

-

(4,902)

- CMB

238,517

101,960

10,408

212

351,097

(917)

(2,029)

(4,874)

(96)

(7,916)

- GBM

187,564

35,461

2,934

65

226,024

(203)

(465)

(975)

(16)

(1,659)

- Corporate Centre

1,198

70

-

-

1,268

-

(13)

-

-

(13)

Loans and advances to banks at amortised cost

79,654

2,004

-

-

81,658

(33)

(9)

-

-

(42)

- WPB

16,837

519

-

-

17,356

(2)

(2)

-

-

(4)

- CMB

12,253

222

-

-

12,475

(2)

-

-

-

(2)

- GBM

33,361

1,166

-

-

34,527

(23)

(7)

-

-

(30)

- Corporate Centre

17,203

97

-

-

17,300

(6)

-

-

-

(6)

Other financial assets measured at amortised cost

768,216

3,975

177

40

772,408

(80)

(44)

(42)

(9)

(175)

- WPB

167,053

1,547

50

39

168,689

(41)

(22)

(7)

(9)

(79)

- CMB

111,299

1,716

65

1

113,081

(17)

(19)

(25)

-

(61)

- GBM

391,967

705

56

-

392,728

(22)

(3)

(10)

-

(35)

- Corporate Centre

97,897

7

6

-

97,910

-

-

-

-

-

Total gross carrying amount on-balance sheet at

31 Dec 2020

1,717,790

169,164

19,272

317

1,906,543

(2,087)

(5,018)

(7,481)

(121)

(14,707)

Loans and other credit-related commitments

604,485

54,217

1,080

1

659,783

(290)

(365)

(78)

(1)

(734)

- WPB

232,027

2,591

136

-

234,754

(41)

(2)

-

-

(43)

- CMB

111,800

29,150

779

1

141,730

(157)

(203)

(72)

(1)

(433)

- GBM

260,527

22,476

165

-

283,168

(92)

(160)

(6)

-

(258)

- Corporate Centre

131

-

-

-

131

-

-

-

-

-

Financial guarantees

14,090

4,024

269

1

18,384

(37)

(62)

(26)

-

(125)

- WPB

1,048

23

2

-

1,073

-

-

-

-

-

- CMB

5,556

2,519

146

1

8,222

(19)

(36)

(12)

-

(67)

- GBM

7,482

1,482

121

-

9,085

(17)

(26)

(14)

-

(57)

- Corporate Centre

4

-

-

-

4

(1)

-

-

-

(1)

Total nominal amount off-balance sheet at

31 Dec 2020

618,575

58,241

1,349

2

678,167

(327)

(427)

(104)

(1)

(859)

WPB

159,988

625

154

39

160,806

(27)

(10)

(15)

(8)

(60)

CMB

95,182

313

51

10

95,556

(22)

(3)

(2)

(2)

(29)

GBM

136,909

126

93

-

137,128

(24)

(1)

(3)

-

(28)

Corporate Centre

5,838

389

-

-

6,227

(17)

(6)

(1)

-

(24)

Debt instruments measured at FVOCI at

31 Dec 2020

397,917

1,453

298

49

399,717

(90)

(20)

(21)

(10)

(141)

 

Loans and advances to customers and banks metrics

Gross carrying amount

Of which: stage 3 and POCI

Allowance for ECL

Of which: stage 3 and POCI

Change in ECL

Write-offs

Recoveries

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

First lien residential mortgages

371,368

3,045

(675)

(416)

-

(70)

31

- second lien residential mortgages

395

37

(14)

(9)

12

(1)

6

- guaranteed loans in respect of residential property

21,610

236

(58)

(42)

(5)

(8)

2

- other personal lending which is secured

37,995

366

(156)

(120)

(11)

(11)

1

- credit cards

22,858

338

(1,135)

(214)

172

(751)

153

- other personal lending which is unsecured

22,478

915

(1,039)

(421)

135

(659)

156

- motor vehicle finance

1,633

5

(26)

(4)

(22)

(20)

6

- IPO loans

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Other personal lending

106,969

1,897

(2,428)

(810)

281

(1,450)

324

Personal lending

478,337

4,942

(3,103)

(1,226)

281

(1,520)

355

- agriculture, forestry and fishing

7,899

363

(138)

(105)

61

(5)

-

- mining and quarrying

9,685

463

(227)

(171)

72

(57)

(1)

- manufacturing

93,743

2,107

(1,248)

(962)

102

(222)

7

- electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply

16,618

78

(68)

(31)

5

-

-

- water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation

3,895

51

(29)

(20)

3

(7)

-

- construction

13,954

843

(508)

(440)

(13)

(94)

9

- wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles

94,944

3,005

(2,107)

(1,937)

163

(238)

15

- transportation and storage

29,592

667

(363)

(191)

100

(10)

2

- accommodation and food

23,376

1,200

(423)

(111)

12

(17)

6

- publishing, audiovisual and broadcasting

18,471

250

(184)

(100)

(12)

(4)

1

- real estate

121,260

2,473

(1,644)

(775)

(674)

(152)

5

- professional, scientific and technical activities

19,685

637

(238)

(172)

97

(39)

1

- administrative and support services

28,675

749

(431)

(307)

48

(37)

-

- public administration and defence, compulsory social security

1,271

-

(8)

-

6

-

1

- education

1,793

65

(37)

(18)

1

(1)

-

- health and care

4,854

183

(72)

(37)

44

(69)

1

- arts, entertainment and recreation

2,598

152

(92)

(42)

27

(26)

-

- other services

12,297

448

(373)

(246)

(59)

(109)

6

- activities of households

977

-

-

-

-

-

-

- extra-territorial organisations and bodies activities

2

-

-

-

1

-

1

- government

7,612

-

(4)

-

(6)

-

-

- asset-backed securities

338

-

(10)

-

3

-

-

Corporate and commercial

513,539

13,734

(8,204)

(5,665)

(19)

(1,087)

54

Non-bank financial institutions

65,355

395

(110)

(40)

129

(5)

-

Wholesale lending

578,894

14,129

(8,314)

(5,705)

110

(1,092)

54

Loans and advances to customers

1,057,231

19,071

(11,417)

(6,931)

391

(2,612)

409

Loans and advances to banks

83,153

-

(17)

-

22

-

-

At 31 Dec 2021

1,140,384

19,071

(11,434)

(6,931)

413

(2,612)

409

 

Loans and advances to customers and banks metrics (continued)

Gross carrying amount

Of which: stage 3 and POCI

Allowance for ECL

Of which: stage 3 and POCI

Change in ECL

Write-offs

Recoveries

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

First lien residential mortgages

352,282

3,383

(755)

(442)

(259)

(92)

35

- second lien residential mortgages

744

51

(22)

(10)

(5)

-

-

- guaranteed loans in respect of residential property

22,552

159

(43)

(32)

1

(3)

-

- other personal lending which is secured

38,035

448

(159)

(127)

(62)

(5)

1

- credit cards

23,299

680

(2,047)

(380)

(1,194)

(736)

131

- other personal lending which is unsecured

22,316

882

(1,682)

(506)

(1,085)

(543)

108

- motor vehicle finance

1,533

8

(23)

(5)

(18)

(28)

5

- IPO loans

48

-

-

-

-

-

-

Other personal lending

108,527

2,228

(3,976)

(1,060)

(2,363)

(1,315)

245

Personal lending

460,809

5,611

(4,731)

(1,502)

(2,622)

(1,407)

280

- agriculture, forestry and fishing

7,445

332

(207)

(150)

(28)

(3)

-

- mining and quarrying

11,947

813

(365)

(220)

(513)

(311)

-

- manufacturing

93,906

2,163

(1,588)

(945)

(652)

(375)

7

- electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply

16,200

53

(73)

(8)

(7)

(14)

-

- water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation

3,174

47

(37)

(22)

(8)

-

-

- construction

14,600

777

(590)

(430)

(151)

(135)

13

- wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles

90,663

3,208

(2,532)

(2,032)

(1,560)

(280)

11

- transportation and storage

29,433

780

(493)

(240)

(308)

(62)

1

- accommodation and food

26,071

537

(491)

(130)

(365)

(28)

-

- publishing, audiovisual and broadcasting

19,979

164

(189)

(59)

(94)

(2)

-

- real estate

127,027

1,908

(1,167)

(738)

(424)

(47)

4

- professional, scientific and technical activities

24,072

531

(398)

(193)

(219)

(36)

1

- administrative and support services

26,423

977

(534)

(315)

(298)

(61)

-

- public administration and defence, compulsory social security

2,008

3

(14)

(1)

(5)

-

-

- education

2,122

29

(41)

(9)

(26)

(6)

1

- health and care

5,510

269

(186)

(120)

(127)

(2)

1

- arts, entertainment and recreation

3,437

236

(158)

(87)

(170)

(2)

-

- other services

13,110

410

(408)

(249)

(360)

(168)

4

- activities of households

802

-

(1)

-

-

-

-

- extra-territorial organisations and bodies activities

10

-

-

-

1

-

1

- government

8,538

1

(9)

(1)

2

(5)

-

- asset-backed securities

611

-

(13)

-

1

-

-

Corporate and commercial

527,088

13,238

(9,494)

(5,949)

(5,311)

(1,537)

44

Non-bank financial institutions

64,580

523

(265)

(100)

(146)

(30)

2

Wholesale lending

591,668

13,761

(9,759)

(6,049)

(5,457)

(1,567)

46

Loans and advances to customers

1,052,477

19,372

(14,490)

(7,551)

(8,079)

(2,974)

326

Loans and advances to banks

81,658

-

(42)

-

(23)

-

-

At 31 Dec 2020

1,134,135

19,372

(14,532)

(7,551)

(8,102)

(2,974)

326

 

 

HSBC Holdings

(Audited)

Risk in HSBC Holdings is overseen by the HSBC Holdings Asset and Liability Management Committee. The major risks faced by HSBC Holdings are credit risk, liquidity risk and market risk (in the form of interest rate risk and foreign exchange risk).

Credit risk in HSBC Holdings primarily arises from transactions with Group subsidiaries and its investments in those subsidiaries.

In HSBC Holdings, the maximum exposure to credit risk arises from two components:

• financial instruments on the balance sheet (see page 315); and

• financial guarantees and similar contracts, where the maximum exposure is the maximum that we would have to pay if the guarantees were called upon (see Note 32).

 

In the case of our derivative balances, we have amounts with a legally enforceable right of offset in the case of counterparty default that are not included in the carrying value. These offsets also include collateral received in cash and other financial assets.

The total offset relating to our derivative balances was $1.6bn at 31 December 2021 (2020: $1.7bn).

The credit quality of loans and advances and financial investments, both of which consist of intra-Group lending and US Treasury bills and bonds, is assessed as 'strong', with 100% of the exposure being neither past due nor impaired (2020: 100%). For further details of credit quality classification, see page 138.

Treasury risk

Page

Overview

189

Treasury risk management

189

Other Group risks

191

Capital risk in 2021

193

Liquidity and funding risk in 2021

196

Structural foreign exchange risk in 2021

199

Interest rate risk in the banking book in 2021

200

 

Overview

Treasury risk is the risk of having insufficient capital, liquidity or funding resources to meet financial obligations and satisfy regulatory requirements, together with the financial risks arising from the provision of pensions and other post-employment benefits to staff and their dependants. Treasury risk also includes the risk to our earnings or capital due to non-trading book foreign exchange exposures and changes in market interest rates.

Treasury risk arises from changes to the respective resources and risk profiles driven by customer behaviour, management decisions or the external environment.

Approach and policy

(Audited)

Our objective in the management of treasury risk is to maintain appropriate levels of capital, liquidity, funding, foreign exchange and market risk to support our business strategy, and meet our regulatory and stress testing-related requirements.

Our approach to treasury management is driven by our strategic and organisational requirements, taking into account the regulatory, economic and commercial environment. We aim to maintain a strong capital and liquidity base to support the risks inherent in our business and invest in accordance with our strategy, meeting both consolidated and local regulatory requirements at all times.

Our policy is underpinned by our risk management framework, our internal capital adequacy assessment process ('ICAAP') and our internal liquidity adequacy assessment process ('ILAAP'). The risk framework incorporates a number of measures aligned to our assessment of risks for both internal and regulatory purposes. These risks include credit, market, operational, pensions, non-trading book foreign exchange risk, and interest rate risk in the banking book.

For further details, refer to our Pillar 3 Disclosures at 31 December 2021.

Treasury risk management

Key developments in 2021

• Global Treasury initiated a new flagship programme to deliver a more resilient, effective and efficient Treasury function over the next four years with a focus on safeguarding and optimising financial resources. The programme will aim to deliver modernised infrastructure and upgraded modelling capabilities alongside a broad reorganisation of the Global Treasury function.

• As announced in February 2021, we intend to maintain a common equity tier 1 ('CET1') ratio above 14%, normalising within our target operating range of 14% to 14.5% by the end of 2022. For the financial year 2021, we were at the lower end of our target dividend payout ratio range of between 40% and 55% of reported earnings per ordinary share ('EPS'), driven by ECL releases and higher restructuring costs.

• We continued to build our recovery and resolution capabilities, including in relation to the Bank of England ('BoE') Resolvability Assessment Framework, which had an overall compliance deadline of 1 January 2022. We submitted a self-assessment report on our resolvability to the Prudential Regulation Authority ('PRA') and the BoE on 1 October 2021. This included an assessment of how we addressed resolvability outcomes that impact treasury risk, including valuations, and capital, liquidity and funding capabilities in resolution. We will publish a summary of our self-assessment report in June 2022. The BoE will similarly publish a statement relating to the resolvability of HSBC at the same time.

• The BoE's Financial Policy Committee ('FPC') confirmed its guidance on the path for the UK countercyclical capital buffer rate. It has announced that it is increasing the rate from 0% to 1%, effective December 2022 in line with the usual 12‑month implementation lag. Absent a material change in the outlook for the UK's financial stability, the FPC would expect to further increase the rate to 2% in the second quarter of 2022, which would take effect 12 months later. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority ('HKMA') maintained the countercyclical capital buffer rate at 1% for Hong Kong, but it will continue to monitor credit and economic conditions closely.

• The PRA has confirmed that the capitalisation of structural foreign exchange risk should align to a Pillar 1 approach. In response, we adopted this approach from 31 December 2021. As a result, market risk RWAs increased by $8.4bn, offset by a reduction in Pillar 2 requirements. In advance of this change, we undertook incremental hedging transactions to reduce structural foreign exchange risk and RWAs.

• We revised the approach to calculate the Group liquidity coverage ratio ('LCR') better reflecting the free transferability of liquidity within the Group, in consideration with currency convertibility and regulatory intra-Group limits. A risk appetite has been set against the Group LCR. We first published the Group LCR as part of our 30 June 2021 disclosures. Based on the consolidation methodology, the Group LCR was 138.4% at 31 December 2021.

• As part of our continuing focus on enhancing the quality of our regulatory reporting, we are progressing with a comprehensive programme to strengthen our global processes, improve consistency and enhance control standards on various aspects of regulatory reporting. Further details can be found in the subsequent sub-section 'Regulatory reporting processes and controls'.

• We worked with the fiduciaries of all our pension plans to ensure the measures taken in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including remote working for plan providers and dealing appropriately with affected plan members, were properly maintained and supported. Our de-risking programmes continued to provide protection against the volatility in financial markets that resulted from the pandemic's economic impact.

• We created a new team within the Global Treasury function to be accountable for monitoring and managing the financial risk and capital implications of the Group's employee defined benefit pension plans. This change creates clearer delineation of the roles and responsibilities of the first and second lines of defence.

The Group's CET1 ratio was 15.8% at 31 December 2021 and the leverage ratio, calculated in accordance with the Capital Requirements Regulation, was 5.2%. The Group continues to maintain and plan for the appropriate resources required to manage its risk and deliver its strategic objectives while supporting local economies.

All of the Group's material operating entities were above regulatory minimum levels of liquidity and funding at 31 December 2021.

For quantitative disclosures on capital ratios, own funds and RWAs, see pages 193 to 194. For quantitative disclosures on liquidity and funding metrics, see pages 196 to 197. For quantitative disclosures on interest rate risk in the banking book, see pages 200 to 201.

Governance and structure

The Global Head of Traded and Treasury Risk Management and Risk Analytics is the accountable risk steward for all treasury risks. The Group Treasurer is the risk owner for all treasury risks, with the exception of pension risk, which is co-owned together with the Group Head of Performance, Reward and Employee Relations.

Capital risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk in the banking book and non-trading book foreign exchange risk are the responsibility of the Group Executive Committee and the Group Risk Committee ('GRC'). The Global Treasury function actively manages these risks on an ongoing basis, supported by the Holdings Asset and Liability Management Committee ('ALCO') and local ALCOs, overseen by Treasury Risk Management and the Risk Management Meeting ('RMM').

Pension risk is overseen by a network of local and regional pension risk management meetings. The Global Pensions Risk Management Meeting provides oversight of all pension plans sponsored by HSBC globally and is chaired by the accountable risk steward.

Capital, liquidity and funding risk management processes

Assessment and risk appetite

Our capital management policy is underpinned by a global capital management framework and our ICAAP. The framework incorporates key capital risk appetites including CET1, total capital, minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities ('MREL'), leverage ratio and double leverage. The ICAAP is an assessment of the Group's capital position, outlining both regulatory and internal capital resources and requirements resulting from HSBC's business model, strategy, risk profile and management, performance and planning, risks to capital, and the implications of stress testing. Our assessment of capital adequacy is driven by an assessment of risks. These risks include credit, market, operational, pensions, insurance, structural foreign exchange, interest rate risk in the banking book and Group risk driven by credit concentration risk in HSBC UK. Climate risk is also considered as part of the ICAAP, and we are continuing to develop our approach. The Group's ICAAP supports the determination of the consolidated capital risk appetite and target ratios, as well as enables the assessment and determination of capital requirements by regulators. Subsidiaries prepare ICAAPs in line with global guidance, while considering their local regulatory regimes to determine their own risk appetites and ratios.

HSBC Holdings is the provider of equity capital and MREL-eligible debt to its subsidiaries, and also provides them with non-equity capital where necessary. These investments are funded by HSBC Holdings' own equity capital and MREL-eligible debt.

HSBC Holdings seeks to maintain a prudent balance between the composition of its capital and its investments in subsidiaries, including management of double leverage. Double leverage reflects the extent to which equity investments in operating entities are funded by holding company debt. Where Group capital requirements are less than the aggregate of operating entity capital requirements, double leverage can be used to improve Group capital efficiency provided it is managed appropriately. In 2021, we updated the basis of preparation for the calculation of double leverage, to better reflect the economics of the risk and align with the Group accounting view. The Group recognises that double leverage can give rise to holding company cash flow risk, and the risk framework reflects the view that the holding company should be a source of support for its subsidiaries in times of stress. Double leverage is one of the constraints on managing our capital position, given the complexity of the Group's subsidiary structure and the multiple regulatory regimes under which we operate. As a matter of long-standing policy, the holding company retains a substantial holdings capital buffer comprising high-quality liquid assets ('HQLA'), which at 31 December 2021 was in excess of $13bn. The portfolio of HQLA helps to mitigate the risks associated with double leverage. Further mitigation is provided by additional tier 1 ('AT1') securities issued in excess of the regulatory requirements of our subsidiaries.

We aim to ensure that management has oversight of our liquidity and funding risks at Group and entity level by maintaining comprehensive policies, metrics and controls. We manage liquidity and funding risk at an operating entity level to make sure that obligations can be met in the jurisdiction where they fall due, generally without reliance on other parts of the Group. Operating entities are required to meet internal minimum requirements and any applicable regulatory requirements at all times. These requirements are assessed through the ILAAP, which ensures that operating entities have robust strategies, policies, processes and systems for the identification, measurement, management and monitoring of liquidity risk over an appropriate set of time horizons, including intra-day. The ILAAP informs the validation of risk tolerance and the setting of risk appetite. It also assesses the capability to manage liquidity and funding effectively in each major entity. These metrics are set and managed locally but are subject to robust global review and challenge to ensure consistency of approach and application of the Group's policies and controls.

Planning and performance

Capital and risk-weighted asset ('RWA') plans form part of the annual financial resource plan that is approved by the Board. Capital and RWA forecasts are submitted to the Group Executive Committee on a monthly basis, and capital and RWAs are monitored and managed against the plan. The responsibility for global capital allocation principles rests with the Group Chief Financial Officer, supported by the Group Capital Management Meeting. This is a specialist forum addressing capital management, reporting into Holdings ALCO.

Through our internal governance processes, we seek to strengthen discipline over our investment and capital allocation decisions, and to ensure that returns on investment meet management's objectives. Our strategy is to allocate capital to businesses and entities to support growth objectives where returns above internal hurdle levels have been identified and in order to meet their regulatory and economic capital needs. We evaluate and manage business returns by using a return on average tangible equity measure.

Funding and liquidity plans form part of the financial resource plan that is approved by the Board. The Board-level appetite measures are the LCR and net stable funding ratio ('NSFR'), together with an internal liquidity metric which was introduced in January 2021 to supplement the LCR and NSFR. In addition, we use a wider set of measures to manage an appropriate funding and liquidity profile, including legal entity depositor concentration limits, intra-day liquidity, forward-looking funding assessments and other key measures.

Risks to capital and liquidity

Outside the stress testing framework, other risks may be identified that have the potential to affect our RWAs, capital and/or liquidity position. Downside and Upside scenarios are assessed against our management objectives, and mitigating actions are assigned as necessary. We closely monitor future regulatory changes and continue to evaluate the impact of these upon our capital and liquidity requirements. These include the UK's implementation of amendments to the Capital Requirements Regulation ('CRR II'), the Basel III Reforms, and the regulatory impact from the UK's withdrawal from the EU, as well as other regulatory statements including changes to internal ratings-based ('IRB') modelling requirements.

Regulatory developments

The PRA has confirmed that software assets are deducted in full from CET1 capital, starting 1 January 2022. This reverses the beneficial changes to the treatment of software assets that were implemented as part of the EU's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the CET1 capital ratio will reduce by approximately 25bps.

Overall, we expect RWAs to increase by around 3% as a result of changes in regulations during 2022. These include the changes to the UK's version of the CRR II, as well as other regulatory statements including changes to IRB modelling requirements and the expiry of transitional provisions in relation to the UK's withdrawal from the EU. The CRR II changes, including the PRA's new rules on NSFR, counterparty credit risk, equity investment in funds, and leverage ratio, will be reflected in disclosures starting in the first quarter of 2022.

Further changes will occur with the introduction of the remaining Basel III Reforms on which the PRA is expected to consult in the second half of 2022. We currently do not foresee a material net impact on initial implementation. The RWA output floor under the Basel III reforms will be subject to a five-year transitional provision. Any impact from the output floor would be towards the end of the transition period.

Regulatory reporting processes and controls

The quality of regulatory reporting remains a key priority for management and regulators. Notably, the PRA published a Dear CEO letter addressed to UK regulated banks, which highlighted areas of concern over the processes firms use to deliver regulatory returns. Recent sanctions issued by the PRA demonstrate their intent in this respect. We are progressing with a comprehensive programme to strengthen our processes, improve consistency, and enhance controls on various aspects of regulatory reporting. We have commissioned a number of independent external reviews, some at the request of our regulators, including one on our credit risk RWA reporting process, which is currently ongoing. As a result of these initiatives, there may be an impact on some of our regulatory ratios, such as the CET1 and LCR.

Stress testing and recovery planning

The Group uses stress testing to evaluate the robustness of plans and risk portfolios including the impact of ECL, and to meet the stress testing requirements set by supervisors. Stress testing also informs the ICAAP and ILAAP and supports recovery planning in many jurisdictions. It is an important output used to evaluate how much capital and liquidity the Group requires in setting risk appetite for capital and liquidity risk. It is also used to re-evaluate business plans where analysis shows capital, liquidity and/or returns do not meet their target.

In addition to a range of internal stress tests, we are subject to supervisory stress testing in many jurisdictions. These include the programmes of the Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve Board, the European Banking Authority, the European Central Bank and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, as well as stress tests undertaken in other jurisdictions. The results of regulatory stress testing and our internal stress tests are used when assessing our internal capital requirements through the ICAAP. The outcomes of stress testing exercises carried out by the PRA and other regulators feed into the setting of regulatory minimum ratios and buffers.

The Group and subsidiaries have established recovery plans, which set out potential options management could take in a range of stress scenarios that could result in a breach of capital or liquidity buffers. All entities monitor internal and external triggers that could threaten their capital, liquidity or funding positions. Entities have established recovery plans providing detailed actions that management would consider taking in a stress scenario should their positions deteriorate and threaten to breach risk appetite and regulatory minimum levels. This is to help ensure that our capital and liquidity position can be recovered even in an extreme stress event.

Overall, recovery and resolution plans form part of the integral framework safeguarding the Group's financial stability. The Group is committed to developing its recovery and resolution capabilities further, including in relation to the BoE's Resolvability Assessment Framework.

Measurement of interest rate risk in the banking book processes

Assessment and risk appetite

Interest rate risk in the banking book is the risk of an adverse impact to earnings or capital due to changes in market interest rates. It is generated by our non-traded assets and liabilities, specifically loans, deposits and financial instruments that are not held for trading intent or in order to hedge positions held with trading intent. Interest rate risk that can be economically hedged may be transferred to the Markets Treasury business. Hedging is generally executed through interest rate derivatives or fixed-rate government bonds. Any interest rate risk that Markets Treasury cannot economically hedge is not transferred and will remain within the global business where the risks originate.

The Global Treasury function uses a number of measures to monitor and control interest rate risk in the banking book, including:

• net interest income sensitivity; and

• economic value of equity sensitivity

Net interest income sensitivity

A principal part of our management of non-traded interest rate risk is to monitor the sensitivity of expected net interest income ('NII') under varying interest rate scenarios (i.e. simulation modelling), where all other economic variables are held constant. This monitoring is undertaken at an entity level by local ALCOs, where entities calculate both one-year and five-year NII sensitivities across a range of interest rate scenarios.

NII sensitivity figures represent the effect of pro forma movements in projected yield curves based on a static balance sheet size and structure. The exception to this is where the size of the balances or repricing is deemed interest rate sensitive, for example, non-interest-bearing current account migration and fixed-rate loan early prepayment. These sensitivity calculations do not incorporate actions that would be taken by Markets Treasury or in the business that originates the risk to mitigate the effect of interest rate movements.

The NII sensitivity calculations assume that interest rates of all maturities move by the same amount in the 'up-shock' scenario. The sensitivity calculations in the 'down-shock' scenarios reflect no floors to the shocked market rates. However, customer product-specific interest rate floors are recognised where applicable.

Economic value of equity sensitivity

Economic value of equity ('EVE') represents the present value of the future banking book cash flows that could be distributed to equity holders under a managed run-off scenario. This equates to the current book value of equity plus the present value of future NII in this scenario. EVE can be used to assess the economic capital required to support interest rate risk in the banking book. An EVE sensitivity represents the expected movement in EVE due to pre-specified interest rate shocks, where all other economic variables are held constant. Operating entities are required to monitor EVE sensitivities as a percentage of capital resources.

Further details of HSBC's risk management of interest rate risk in the banking book can be found in the Group's Pillar 3 Disclosures at 31 December 2021.

 

Other Group risks

Non-trading book foreign exchange exposures

Structural foreign exchange exposures

Structural foreign exchange exposures represent net assets or capital investments in subsidiaries, branches, joint arrangements or associates, together with any associated hedges, the functional currencies of which are currencies other than the US dollar. An entity's functional currency is normally that of the primary economic environment in which the entity operates.

Exchange differences on structural exposures are recognised in other comprehensive income ('OCI'). We use the US dollar as our presentation currency in our consolidated financial statements because the US dollar and currencies linked to it form the major currency bloc in which we transact and fund our business. Therefore, our consolidated balance sheet is affected by exchange differences between the US dollar and all the non-US dollar functional currencies of underlying subsidiaries.

Our structural foreign exchange exposures are managed with the primary objective of ensuring, where practical, that our consolidated capital ratios and the capital ratios of individual banking subsidiaries are largely protected from the effect of changes in exchange rates.

We hedge structural foreign exchange positions where it is capital efficient to do so, and subject to approved limits. This is achieved through a combination of net investment hedges and economic hedges. Hedging positions are monitored and rebalanced periodically to manage RWA or downside risks associated with HSBC's foreign currency investments.

For further details of our structural foreign exchange exposures, see page 199.

Transactional foreign exchange exposures

Transactional foreign exchange exposures arise from transactions in the banking book generating profit and loss or OCI reserves in a currency other than the reporting currency of the operating entity. Transactional foreign exchange exposure generated through profit and loss is periodically transferred to Markets and Securities Services and managed within limits with the exception of limited residual foreign exchange exposure arising from timing differences or for other reasons. Transactional foreign exchange exposure generated through OCI reserves is managed by the Markets Treasury business within a limit framework to be agreed in the first half of 2022.

 

HSBC Holdings risk management

As a financial services holding company, HSBC Holdings has limited market risk activities. Its activities predominantly involve maintaining sufficient capital resources to support the Group's diverse activities; allocating these capital resources across the Group's businesses; earning dividend and interest income on its investments in the businesses; payment of operating expenses; providing dividend payments to its equity shareholders and interest payments to providers of debt capital; and maintaining a supply of short-term liquid assets for deployment under extraordinary circumstances.

The main market risks to which HSBC Holdings is exposed are banking book interest rate risk and foreign currency risk. Exposure to these risks arises from short-term cash balances, funding positions held, loans to subsidiaries, investments in long-term financial assets, financial liabilities including debt capital issued and structural foreign exchange hedges. The objective of HSBC Holdings' market risk management strategy is to manage volatility in capital resources, cash flows and distributable reserves that could be caused by movements in market parameters. Market risk for HSBC Holdings is monitored by Holdings ALCO in accordance with its risk appetite statement.

HSBC Holdings uses interest rate swaps and cross-currency interest rate swaps to manage the interest rate risk and foreign currency risk arising from its long-term debt issues and forward foreign exchange contracts to manage its structural foreign exchange exposures.

For quantitative disclosures on interest rate risk in the banking book, see pages 200 to 201.

 

Pension risk management processes

Our global pensions strategy is to move from defined benefit to defined contribution plans, where local law allows and it is considered competitive to do so. We will continue to review and enhance our risk appetite metrics to assist the internal monitoring of our de-risking programmes.

In defined contribution pension plans, the contributions that HSBC is required to make are known, while the ultimate pension benefit will vary, typically with investment returns achieved by investment choices made by the employee. While the market risk to HSBC of defined contribution plans is low, the Group is still exposed to operational and reputational risk.

In defined benefit pension plans, the level of pension benefit is

known. Therefore, the level of contributions required by HSBC will vary due to a number of risks, including:

• investments delivering a return below that required to provide the projected plan benefits;

• the prevailing economic environment leading to corporate failures, thus triggering write-downs in asset values (both equity and debt);

• a change in either interest rates or inflation expectations, causing an increase in the value of plan liabilities; and

• plan members living longer than expected (known as longevity risk).

Pension risk is assessed using an economic capital model that takes into account potential variations in these factors. The impact of these variations on both pension assets and pension liabilities is assessed using a one-in-200-year stress test. Scenario analysis and other stress tests are also used to support pension risk management.

To fund the benefits associated with defined benefit plans, sponsoring Group companies, and in some instances employees, make regular contributions in accordance with advice from actuaries and in consultation with the plan's fiduciaries where relevant. These contributions are normally set to ensure that there are sufficient funds to meet the cost of the accruing benefits for the future service of active members. However, higher contributions are required when plan assets are considered insufficient to cover the existing pension liabilities. Contribution rates are typically revised annually or once every three years, depending on the plan.

The defined benefit plans invest contributions in a range of investments designed to limit the risk of assets failing to meet a plan's liabilities. Any changes in expected returns from the investments may also change future contribution requirements. In pursuit of these long-term objectives, an overall target allocation is established between asset classes of the defined benefit plan. In addition, each permitted asset class has its own benchmarks, such as stock-market or property valuation indices or liability characteristics. The benchmarks are reviewed at least once every three to five years and more frequently if required by local legislation or circumstances. The process generally involves an extensive asset and liability review.

In addition, some of the Group's pension plans hold longevity swap contracts. These arrangements provide long-term protection to the relevant plans against costs resulting from pensioners or their dependants living longer than initially expected. The most sizeable plan to do this is the HSBC Bank (UK) Pension Scheme, which holds longevity swaps covering approximately 60% of the plan's pensioner liabilities.

Capital risk in 2021

Capital overview

Capital adequacy metrics

At

31 Dec

31 Dec

2021

2020

Risk-weighted assets ('RWAs') ($bn)

Credit risk

680.6

691.9

Counterparty credit risk

35.9

42.8

Market risk

32.9

28.5

Operational risk

88.9

94.3

Total RWAs

838.3

857.5

Capital on a transitional basis ($bn)

Common equity tier 1 ('CET1') capital

132.6

136.1

Tier 1 capital

156.3

160.2

Total capital

177.8

184.4

Capital ratios on a transitional basis (%)

Common equity tier 1 ratio

15.8

15.9

Tier 1 ratio

18.6

18.7

Total capital ratio

21.2

21.5

Capital on an end point basis ($bn)

Common equity tier 1 ('CET1') capital

132.6

136.1

Tier 1 capital

155.0

158.5

Total capital

167.5

173.2

Capital ratios on an end point basis (%)

Common equity tier 1 ratio

15.8

15.9

Tier 1 ratio

18.5

18.5

Total capital ratio

20.0

20.2

Liquidity coverage ratio ('LCR')

Total high-quality liquid assets ($bn)

717.0

677.9

Total net cash outflow ($bn)

518.0

487.3

LCR ratio (%)

138.4

139.1

 

References to EU regulations and directives (including technical standards) should, as applicable, be read as references to the UK's version of such regulation or directive, as onshored into UK law under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, and as may be subsequently amended under UK law.

 

Capital figures and ratios in the previous table are calculated in accordance with the revised Capital Requirements Regulation and Directive, as implemented ('CRR II'). The table presents them under the transitional arrangements in CRR II for capital instruments and after their expiry, known as the end point. The end point figures in the table above include the benefit of the regulatory transitional arrangements in CRR II for IFRS 9, which are more fully described below. Where applicable, they also reflect government relief schemes intended to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At 31 December 2021, our common equity tier 1 ('CET1') capital ratio decreased to 15.8% from 15.9% at 31 December 2020. RWAs decreased due to RWA reductions under the transformation programme and favourable movements in asset quality. CET1 capital fell due to higher regulatory deductions and fair value movements net of capital generation.

Own funds

The $3.5bn fall in CET1 capital was mainly as a result of:

• a $2.9bn net increase in deductions for excess expected loss, investment in financial sector entities and defined benefit pension assets surplus;

• $2.5bn unfavourable foreign currency translation differences; and

• a $2.2bn decrease in fair value through other comprehensive income reserve.

These decreases were partly offset by capital generation of $3.9bn through profits net of share buy-back, foreseeable dividend and dividends paid.

Our Pillar 2A requirement at 31 December 2021, as per the PRA's Individual Capital Requirement based on a point-in-time assessment, was $22.5bn, equivalent to 2.7% of RWAs, of which 1.5% was required to be met by CET1. With effect from 31 December 2021, structural foreign exchange risk is capitalised in RWAs under Pillar 1, with a consequent reduction in Pillar 2A. Going forward, structural foreign exchange risk will be assessed for Pillar 2A in the same manner as other risks capitalised under Pillar 1.

Own funds disclosure

(Audited)

At

31 Dec

31 Dec

2021

2020

Ref*

$m

$m

Common equity tier 1 ('CET1') capital: instruments and reserves

1

Capital instruments and the related share premium accounts

23,513

23,219

- ordinary shares

23,513

23,219

2

Retained earnings1

121,059

126,314

3

Accumulated other comprehensive income (and other reserves)

8,273

9,768

5

Minority interests (amount allowed in consolidated CET1)

4,186

4,079

5a

Independently reviewed interim net profits net of any foreseeable charge or dividend

5,887

(252)

6

Common equity tier 1 capital before regulatory adjustments1

162,918

163,128

28

Total regulatory adjustments to common equity tier 11

(30,353)

(27,078)

29

Common equity tier 1 capital

132,565

136,050

36

Additional tier 1 capital before regulatory adjustments

23,787

24,183

43

Total regulatory adjustments to additional tier 1 capital

(60)

(60)

44

Additional tier 1 capital

23,727

24,123

45

Tier 1 capital

156,292

160,173

51

Tier 2 capital before regulatory adjustments

23,018

25,722

57

Total regulatory adjustments to tier 2 capital

(1,524)

(1,472)

58

Tier 2 capital

21,494

24,250

59

Total capital

177,786

184,423

* The references identify the lines prescribed in the European Banking Authority ('EBA') template, which are applicable and where there is a value.

1 The figures for 31 December 2020 have been restated to reflect the reclassification of the IFRS 9 transitional adjustment from retained earnings (within row 6) to 'Total regulatory adjustments to common equity tier 1' (row 28).

 

Throughout 2021, we complied with the PRA's regulatory capital adequacy requirements, including those relating to stress testing.

Regulatory and other developments

During 2022, we expect our CET1 ratio to be affected by regulatory developments including:

• the change in the treatment of software assets;

• the implementation of the standardised approach for counterparty credit risk calculation, which came into effect on 1 January 2022;

• measures to improve the comparability of internal ratings-based ('IRB') models, including the introduction of a minimum risk weight for performing mortgage portfolios in the UK; and

• the expiry of transitional provisions in relation to the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

Based on our capital position at 31 December 2021, we would expect that the proposed classification of our retail banking operations in France as being held for sale would reduce our CET1 ratio by around 30bps. Separately, our recent strategic actions are likely to lead to a fall in our CET1 ratio of around 15bps, of which we expect approximately half will occur in the first quarter of 2022. These actions include the acquisitions of AXA Singapore, L&T Investment Management and HSBC Life China, and the exit of mass market retail banking in the US.

 

Risk-weighted assets

RWAs by global business

WPB

CMB

GBM

Corporate Centre

Total

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

Credit risk

143.0

305.4

151.8

80.4

680.6

Counterparty credit risk

1.1

0.7

33.5

0.6

35.9

Market risk

1.7

0.9

20.3

10.0

32.9

Operational risk

32.5

25.9

30.6

(0.1)

88.9

At 31 Dec 2021

178.3

332.9

236.2

90.9

838.3

 

RWAs by geographical region

Europe

Asia

MENA

North

America

Latin

America

Total

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

Credit risk

193.7

318.1

50.6

90.6

27.6

680.6

Counterparty credit risk

19.4

9.9

1.3

3.3

2.0

35.9

Market risk1

24.6

25.3

2.3

5.3

1.0

32.9

Operational risk

23.4

43.0

6.0

11.2

5.3

88.9

At 31 Dec 2021

261.1

396.3

60.2

110.4

35.9

838.3

1 RWAs are non-additive across geographical regions due to market risk diversification effects within the Group.

RWA movement by global business by key driver

Credit risk, counterparty credit risk and operational risk

WPB

CMB

GBM

Corporate Centre

Market

risk

Total

RWAs

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

RWAs at 1 Jan 2021

171.2

326.8

242.2

88.8

28.5

857.5

Asset size

5.5

12.5

(12.1)

0.6

(1.8)

4.7

Asset quality

(2.2)

(4.9)

(0.4)

(0.5)

-

(8.0)

Model updates

2.0

(0.4)

-

-

(1.2)

0.4

Methodology and policy

3.4

3.3

(9.8)

(7.3)

7.4

(3.0)

Acquisitions and disposals

(0.4)

-

-

-

-

(0.4)

Foreign exchange movements

(2.9)

(5.3)

(4.0)

(0.7)

-

(12.9)

Total RWA movement

5.4

5.2

(26.3)

(7.9)

4.4

(19.2)

RWAs at 31 Dec 2021

176.6

332.0

215.9

80.9

32.9

838.3

 

RWA movement by geographical region by key driver

Credit risk, counterparty credit risk and operational risk

Europe

Asia

MENA

North

America

Latin

America

Market risk

Total

 RWAs

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

RWAs at 1 Jan 2021

260.8

363.3

57.8

113.1

34.0

28.5

857.5

Asset size

(15.9)

17.2

2.3

0.8

2.1

(1.8)

4.7

Asset quality

2.9

(4.9)

(0.5)

(6.2)

0.7

-

(8.0)

Model updates

-

1.7

-

(0.1)

-

(1.2)

0.4

Methodology and policy

(5.5)

(3.2)

0.6

(2.3)

-

7.4

(3.0)

Acquisitions and disposals

-

-

-

(0.4)

-

-

(0.4)

Foreign exchange movements

(5.8)

(3.1)

(2.3)

0.2

(1.9)

-

(12.9)

Total RWA movement

(24.3)

7.7

0.1

(8.0)

0.9

4.4

(19.2)

RWAs at 31 Dec 2021

236.5

371.0

57.9

105.1

34.9

32.9

838.3

 

Risk-weighted assets ('RWAs') fell by $19.2bn during the year, including a drop of $12.9bn due to foreign currency translation differences. The $6.3bn decrease (excluding foreign currency translation differences) resulted from RWA saves and favourable movements in asset quality, which more than offset increases due to lending growth and regulatory change. At 31 December 2021, our cumulative RWA saves as part of our transformation programme were $104bn, including accelerated reductions of $9.6bn from 31 December 2019.

Asset size

The $12.5bn increase in CMB RWAs reflected corporate loan growth in mainland China, Hong Kong and North America, while lending in Europe reduced.

WPB RWAs rose by $5.5bn, primarily due to lending growth in Asia, largely in the mortgage portfolio. Sovereign exposures drove the $0.6bn rise in Corporate Centre RWAs.

The $12.1bn fall in GBM was mostly due to lower lending, management initiatives and mark-to-market movements in Europe, North America and Latin America, partly offset by growth in Asia.

Market risk RWAs decreased by $1.8bn, largely as a result of reduced exposures and risk mitigation actions.

Asset quality

The RWA decreases in CMB, WPB and Corporate Centre were mostly due to favourable portfolio mix changes in Asia and North America, and credit migration in Europe and North America.

In GBM, favourable portfolio mix changes in Asia and credit migration in North America were partly offset by increases in the UK due to portfolio changes, leading to an overall fall of $0.4bn.

Model updates

The $2.0bn increase in WPB was mostly due to changes to our Australian mortgages model.

This was partly offset by the $1.2bn reduction in market risk RWAs, largely from the implementation of an options risk model. The fall in CMB RWAs was driven by corporate model updates.

Methodology and policy

Changes to Markets Treasury allocation methodologies decreased RWAs in Corporate Centre and increased RWAs in WPB, CMB and GBM. However, the increase in GBM was more than offset by parameter refinements across our major regions.

The $7.4bn rise in market risk included an $8.4bn increase on our adoption of a Pillar 1 approach to the capitalisation of structural foreign exchange risk, following confirmation from the PRA. This was partly offset by enhancements to foreign exchange risk calculations under the standardised approach.

Acquisitions and disposals

The sale of a US credit card portfolio led to a $0.4bn fall in WPB RWAs.

Leverage ratio1

At

31 Dec

31 Dec

2021

2020

Ref*

$bn

$bn

20

Tier 1 capital

155.0

158.5

21

Total leverage ratio exposure

2,962.7

2,897.1

%

%

22

Leverage ratio

5.2

5.5

EU-23

Choice of transitional arrangements for the definition of the capital measure

Fully phased-in

Fully phased-in

UK leverage ratio exposure - quarterly average2

2,545.6

2,555.5

%

%

UK leverage ratio - quarterly average2

6.0

6.1

UK leverage ratio - quarter end2

6.2

6.2

* The references identify the lines prescribed in the EBA template.

1 The CRR II regulatory transitional arrangements for IFRS 9 are applied in both leverage ratio calculations.

2 UK leverage ratio denotes the Group's leverage ratio calculated under the PRA's UK leverage framework. This measure excludes from the calculation of exposure qualifying central bank balances and loans under the UK Bounce Back Loan Scheme.

Our leverage ratio calculated in accordance with the Capital Requirements Regulation was 5.2% at 31 December 2021, down from 5.5% at 31 December 2020, due to a decrease in tier 1 capital and an increase in leverage exposure, primarily due to growth in central bank deposits and customer lending, offset by a decrease in financial investments.

At 31 December 2021, our UK minimum leverage ratio requirement of 3.25% under the PRA's UK leverage framework was supplemented by an additional leverage ratio buffer of 0.7% and a countercyclical leverage ratio buffer of 0.1%. These additional buffers translated into capital values of $17.6bn and $2.5bn respectively. We exceeded these leverage requirements.

Regulatory transitional arrangements for IFRS 9 'Financial Instruments'

We have adopted the regulatory transitional arrangements in CRR II for IFRS 9, including paragraph four of article 473a. Our capital and ratios are presented under these arrangements throughout the tables in this section, including in the end point figures. Without their application, our CET1 ratio would be 15.7%.

The IFRS 9 regulatory transitional arrangements allow banks to add back to their capital base a proportion of the impact that IFRS 9 has upon their loan loss allowances. The impact is defined as:

• the increase in loan loss allowances on day one of IFRS 9 adoption; and

• any subsequent increase in ECL in the non-credit-impaired book thereafter.

Any add-back must be tax affected and accompanied by a recalculation of exposure and RWAs. The impact is calculated separately for portfolios using the standardised ('STD') and internal ratings-based ('IRB') approaches. For IRB portfolios, there is no add-back to capital unless loan loss allowances exceed regulatory 12-month expected losses.

The EU's CRR II 'Quick Fix' relief package enacted in June 2020 increased from 70% to 100% the relief that banks may take for loan loss allowances recognised since 1 January 2020 on thenon-credit-impaired book.

In the current period, the add-back to CET1 capital amounted to $1.0bn under the STD approach with a tax impact of $0.2bn. At 31 December 2020, the add-back to the capital base under the STD approach was $1.6bn with a tax impact of $0.4bn.

Pillar 3 disclosure requirements

Pillar 3 of the Basel regulatory framework is related to market discipline and aims to make financial services firms more transparent by requiring publication of wide-ranging information on their risks, capital and management. Our Pillar 3 Disclosures at 31 December 2021 is published on our website at www.hsbc.com/investors.

Liquidity and funding risk in 2021

Liquidity metrics

At 31 December 2021, all of the Group's material operating entities were above regulatory minimum liquidity and funding levels.

Each entity maintains sufficient unencumbered liquid assets to comply with local and regulatory requirements. The liquidity value of these assets for each entity is shown in the following table along with the individual LCR levels based on European Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/61. This basis may differ from local LCR measures due to differences in the way non-EU regulators have implemented the Basel III standards. Each

 entity maintains sufficient stable funding relative to the required stable funding assessed using the NSFR or other appropriate metrics. From 1 January 2022, we started managing funding risk based on the PRA's NSFR rules.

In addition to regulatory metrics, we enhanced our liquidity framework in 2021 to include an internal liquidity metric, which is being used to monitor and manage liquidity risk via a low-point measure across a 270-day horizon, taking into account recovery capacity.

The Group liquidity and funding position at the end of 2021 is analysed in the following sections.

Operating entities' liquidity

At 31 December 2021

LCR

HQLA

Net outflows

NSFR

%

$bn

$bn

$bn

%

HSBC UK Bank plc (ring-fenced bank)1

241

163

68

178

HSBC Bank plc (non-ring-fenced bank)2

150

135

90

107

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - Hong Kong branch3

154

145

94

135

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - Singapore branch3

179

18

10

145

Hang Seng Bank

169

43

25

144

HSBC Bank China

141

17

12

130

HSBC Bank USA

119

98

83

140

HSBC Continental Europe4, 5

145

54

37

128

HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd - UAE branch

210

12

6

146

HSBC Canada4

119

22

18

123

HSBC Mexico

200

9

5

141

 

At 31 December 2020

HSBC UK Bank plc (ring-fenced bank)1

198

121

61

164

HSBC Bank plc (non-ring-fenced bank)2

136

138

102

124

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - Hong Kong branch3

195

146

75

146

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - Singapore branch3

162

16

10

135

Hang Seng Bank

212

50

24

151

HSBC Bank China

232

24

10

158

HSBC Bank USA

130

106

82

130

HSBC Continental Europe4

143

48

34

130

HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd - UAE branch

280

11

4

164

HSBC Canada4

165

30

18

136

HSBC Mexico

198

10

5

139

1 HSBC UK Bank plc refers to the HSBC UK liquidity group, which comprises four legal entities: HSBC UK Bank plc, Marks and Spencer Financial Services plc, HSBC Private Bank (UK) Ltd and HSBC Trust Company (UK) Limited, managed as a single operating entity, in line with the application of UK liquidity regulation as agreed with the PRA.

2 HSBC Bank plc includes oversea branches and special purpose entities consolidated by HSBC for financial statements purposes.

3 The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - Hong Kong branch and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - Singapore branch represent the material activities of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. Each branch is monitored and controlled for liquidity and funding risk purposes as a stand-alone operating entity.

4 HSBC Continental Europe and HSBC Canada represent the consolidated banking operations of the Group in France and Canada, respectively. HSBC Continental Europe and HSBC Canada are each managed as single distinct operating entities for liquidity purposes.

5 The net stable funding ratio for HSBC Continental Europe is based on the EU's CRR II rules.

 

At 31 December 2021, all of the Group's principal operating entities were above regulatory minimum levels.

The most significant movements in 2021 are explained below:

• HSBC UK Bank plc retained a strong liquidity position, reflecting growth in its commercial surplus that was driven by customer deposits and the drawdown of a central bank term funding scheme.

• HSBC Bank plc's liquidity ratio increased to 150%, mainly due to growth in customer deposits and a decline in loans.

• HSBC Continental Europe maintained a strong liquidity position, reflecting growth in deposits.

• The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - Hong Kong branch's liquidity position remained strong, although its

liquidity ratio dropped to 154%, mainly due to growth in equity holding and loans.

• Hang Seng Bank's liquidity ratio dropped to 169%, mainly due to growth in loans.

• HSBC Bank China's liquidity ratio dropped to 141%, mainly driven by growth in loans coupled with lower deposits and debt issuances.

• HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd - UAE branch retained a strong liquidity position, with a liquidity ratio of 210%.

• HSBC Canada's liquidity ratio dropped to 119%, mainly driven by the maturity of the short-term funding raised during the pandemic and growth in loans.

 

Consolidated liquidity metrics

Liquidity coverage ratio

At 31 December 2021, the total HQLA held at entity level amounted to $880bn (31 December 2020: $857bn), an increase of $23bn. In 2021, we implemented a revised approach to the application of the requirements under the European Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/61. This revised approach was used to assess the limitations in the transferability of entity liquidity around the Group and resulted in an adjustment of $163bn to LCR HQLA and $9bn to LCR inflows. This reflected an increase in the adjustment of $62bn compared with the approach used for the disclosure in the Annual Report and Accounts 2020. The change in methodology was designed to better incorporate local regulatory restrictions on the transferability of liquidity.

At

31 Dec

30 Jun

31 Dec

2021

2021

 20201

$bn

$bn

$bn

High-quality liquid assets (in entities)

880

844

857

EC Delegated Act adjustment for transfer

restrictions2

(172)

(189)

(179)

Group LCR HQLA

717

659

678

Net outflows

518

494

487

Liquidity coverage ratio

138%

134%

139%

1 Group LCR numbers above for 31 December 2020 are based on the approach used before the methodology was revised.

2 This includes adjustments made to high-quality liquid assets and inflows in entities to reflect liquidity transfer restrictions

Liquid assets

After the $163bn adjustment, the Group LCR HQLA of $717bn (31 December 2020: $678bn) was held in a range of asset classes and currencies. Of these, 97% were eligible as level 1 (31 December 2020: 90%).

The following tables reflect the composition of the liquidity pool by asset type and currency at 31 December 2021.

Liquidity pool by asset type

Liquidity pool

Cash

Level 11

Level 21

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

Cash and balance at central bank

390

390

-

-

Central and local government bonds

302

-

281

21

Regional government public sector entities

3

-

2

1

International organisation and multilateral developments banks

9

-

9

-

Covered bonds

4

-

2

2

Other

9

-

8

1

Total at 31 Dec 2021

717

390

302

25

Total at 31 Dec 2020

678

307

301

70

1 As defined in EU regulations, level 1 assets means 'assets of extremely high liquidity and credit quality', and level 2 assets means 'assets of high liquidity and credit quality'.

Liquidity pool by currency

$

£

HK$

Other

Total

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

$bn

Liquidity pool at 31 Dec 2021

189

211

104

56

157

717

Liquidity pool at 31 Dec 2020

218

176

117

74

93

678

 

 

 

Sources of funding

Our primary sources of funding are customer current accounts and savings deposits payable on demand or at short notice. We issue secured and unsecured wholesale securities to supplement customer deposits, meet regulatory obligations and to change the currency mix, maturity profile or location of our liabilities.

The following 'Funding sources' and 'Funding uses' tables provide a view of how our consolidated balance sheet is funded. In practice, all the principal operating entities are required to manage liquidity and funding risk on a stand-alone basis.

The tables analyse our consolidated balance sheet according to the assets that primarily arise from operating activities and the sources of funding primarily supporting these activities. Assets and liabilities that do not arise from operating activities are presented at a net balancing source or deployment of funds.

Funding sources

(Audited)

2021

2020

$m

$m

Customer accounts

1,710,574

1,642,780

Deposits by banks

101,152

82,080

Repurchase agreements - non-trading

126,670

111,901

Debt securities in issue

78,557

95,492

Cash collateral, margin and settlement accounts

65,452

78,565

Liabilities of disposal groups held for sale

9,005

-

Subordinated liabilities

20,487

21,951

Financial liabilities designated at fair value

145,502

157,439

Liabilities under insurance contracts

Liabilities under insurance contracts

112,745

107,191

Trading liabilities

84,904

75,266

- repos

11,004

11,728

- stock lending

2,332

4,597

- other trading liabilities

71,568

58,941

Total equity

206,777

204,995

Other balance sheet liabilities

 

296,114

406,504

At 31 Dec

2,957,939

2,984,164

 

 

Funding uses

(Audited)

2021

2020

$m

$m

Loans and advances to customers

1,045,814

1,037,987

Loans and advances to banks

83,136

81,616

Reverse repurchase agreements - non-trading

241,648

230,628

Cash collateral, margin and settlement accounts

59,884

76,859

Assets held for sale

3,411

299

Trading assets

248,842

231,990

- reverse repos

14,994

13,990

- stock borrowing

8,082

8,286

- other trading assets

225,766

209,714

Financial investments

446,274

490,693

Cash and balances with central banks

403,018

304,481

Other balance sheet assets

425,912

529,611

At 31 Dec

2,957,939

2,984,164

 

 

Wholesale term debt maturity profile

The maturity profile of our wholesale term debt obligations is set out in the following table.

The balances in the table are not directly comparable with those in the consolidated balance sheet because the table presents gross cash flows relating to principal payments and not the balance sheet carrying value, which includes debt securities and subordinated liabilities measured at fair value.

Wholesale funding cash flows payable by HSBC under financial liabilities by remaining contractual maturities

Due not

more than

1 month

Due over

1 month

but not more than

3 months

Due over

3 months

but not more than

6 months

Due over

6 months

but not more than

9 months

Due over

9 months

but not more

than

1 year

Due over

1 year

but not more than

2 years

Due over

2 years

but not more than

5 years

Due over

5 years

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Debt securities issued

17,602

14,593

9,293

9,249

5,233

25,058

55,388

56,639

193,055

- unsecured CDs and CP

4,586

6,795

4,281

2,837

1,189

947

834

931

22,400

- unsecured senior MTNs

8,542

4,140

2,633

2,078

2,074

14,932

45,063

45,259

124,721

- unsecured senior structured notes

2,090

1,610

1,017

975

1,206

2,996

3,382

8,604

21,880

- secured covered bonds

-

1,137

-

997

-

2,417

1,997

-

6,548

- secured asset-backed commercial paper

956

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

956

- secured ABS

1

133

33

31

193

896

1,696

98

3,081

- others

1,427

778

1,329

2,331

571

2,870

2,416

1,747

13,469

Subordinated liabilities

-

-

11

-

-

417

7,023

21,274

28,725

- subordinated debt securities

-

-

11

-

-

417

7,023

19,427

26,878

- preferred securities

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1,847

1,847

At 31 Dec 2021

17,602

14,593

9,304

9,249

5,233

25,475

62,411

77,913

221,780

Debt securities issued

18,057

16,848

20,314

15,208

7,561

20,768

49,948

59,911

208,615

- unsecured CDs and CP

4,048

8,440

9,977

6,186

2,945

1,474

1,454

1,546

36,070

- unsecured senior MTNs

9,625

3,363

3,915

4,684

2,005

9,295

35,834

49,209

117,930

- unsecured senior structured notes

2,075

1,539

1,451

1,242

1,241

3,702

4,979

6,765

22,994

- secured covered bonds

-

-

28

-

750

2,514

3,917

-

7,209

- secured asset-backed commercial paper

1,094

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1,094

- secured ABS

19

119

171

45

41

410

1,865

646

3,316

- others

1,196

3,387

4,772

3,051

579

3,373

1,899

1,745

20,002

Subordinated liabilities

618

-

237

-

12

12

6,081

22,941

29,901

- subordinated debt securities

618

-

237

-

12

12

6,081

21,085

28,045

- preferred securities

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1,856

1,856

At 31 Dec 2020

18,675

16,848

20,551

15,208

7,573

20,780

56,029

82,852

238,516

 

Structural foreign exchange risk in 2021

Structural foreign exchange exposures represent net assets or capital investments in subsidiaries, branches, joint arrangements or associates, together with any associated hedges, the functional currencies of which are currencies other than the US dollar. Exchange differences on structural exposures are usually recognised in 'Other comprehensive income'.

Net structural foreign exchange exposures

20211

Currency of structural exposure

Net investment in foreign operations (excl non-controlling interest)

Net investment hedges

Structural foreign exchange exposures (pre-economic hedges)

Economic hedges - structural FX hedges2

Economic hedges - equity securities (AT1)3

Net structural foreign exchange exposures

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Hong Kong dollars

44,714

(4,992)

39,722

(7,935)

-

31,787

Pounds sterling

47,935

(15,717)

32,218

-

(1,353)

30,865

Chinese renminbi

35,879

-

35,879

(1,255)

-

34,624

Euros

14,671

-

14,671

-

(4,262)

10,409

Canadian dollars

5,147

(1,093)

4,054

-

-

4,054

Indian rupees

5,106

-

5,106

-

-

5,106

Mexican pesos

3,598

-

3,598

-

-

3,598

Saudi riyals

4,115

-

4,115

-

-

4,115

UAE dirhams

4,155

(700)

3,455

(1,985)

-

1,470

Malaysian ringgit

2,713

-

2,713

-

-

2,713

Singapore dollars

2,339

(680)

1,659

-

(1,298)

361

Australian dollars

2,300

-

2,300

-

-

2,300

Taiwanese dollars

2,105

(1,019)

1,086

-

-

1,086

Indonesian rupiah

1,748

-

1,748

-

-

1,748

Swiss francs

1,107

(809)

298

-

-

298

Korean won

1,219

(696)

523

-

-

523

Thai baht

859

-

859

-

-

859

Egyptian pound

1,051

-

1,051

-

-

1,051

Qatari rial

725

-

725

(332)

-

393

Argentinian peso

795

-

795

-

-

795

Others, each less than $700m

5,242

(200)

5,042

(36)

-

5,006

At 31 Dec

187,523

(25,906)

161,617

(11,543)

(6,913)

143,161

20201

Hong Kong dollars

47,623

-

47,623

(5,564)

-

42,059

Pounds sterling

46,506

(11,221)

35,285

-

(1,365)

33,920

Chinese renminbi

32,165

-

32,165

(1,191)

-

30,974

Euros

15,672

-

15,672

-

(4,596)

11,076

Canadian dollars

5,123

-

5,123

-

-

5,123

Indian rupees

4,833

-

4,833

-

-

4,833

Mexican pesos

4,139

-

4,139

-

-

4,139

Saudi riyals

3,892

-

3,892

-

-

3,892

UAE dirhams

3,867

-

3,867

(1,985)

-

1,882

Malaysian ringgit

2,771

-

2,771

-

-

2,771

Singapore dollars

2,473

-

2,473

-

(1,324)

1,149

Australian dollars

2,357

-

2,357

-

-

2,357

Taiwanese dollars

2,036

-

2,036

-

-

2,036

Indonesian rupiah

1,726

-

1,726

-

-

1,726

Swiss francs

1,444

-

1,444

-

-

1,444

Korean won

1,368

-

1,368

-

-

1,368

Thai baht

991

-

991

-

-

991

Egyptian pound

889

-

889

-

-

889

Qatari rial

667

-

667

(382)

-

285

Argentinian peso

614

-

614

-

-

614

Others, each less than $700m

5,577

-

5,577

(75)

-

5,502

At 31 Dec

186,733

(11,221)

175,512

(9,197)

(7,285)

159,030

1 Incremental hedging transactions were undertaken in 2021 to reduce structural foreign exchange risk. The disclosure has therefore been expanded and comparatives re-presented.

2 Represents hedges that do not qualify as net investment hedges for accounting purposes.

3 Represents foreign currency denominated preference share and AT1 instruments. These are accounted for at historical cost under IFRSs and do not qualify as net investment hedges for accounting purposes. The gain or loss arising from changes in the US dollar value of these instruments is recognised on redemption in retained earnings.

Shareholders' equity would decrease by $2,981m (2020: $2,427m) if euro and sterling foreign currency exchange rates weakened by 5% relative to the US dollar.

Interest rate risk in the banking book in 2021

 

Net interest income sensitivity

The following tables set out the assessed impact to a hypothetical base case projection of our banking book NII under the following scenarios:

• an immediate shock of 25 basis points ('bps') to the current market-implied path of interest rates across all currencies on1 January 2022 (effects over one year and five years);

• an immediate shock of 100bps to the current market-implied path of interest rates across all currencies on 1 January 2022 (effects over one year and five years).

The sensitivities shown represent a hypothetical simulation of the base case NII, assuming a static balance sheet, no management actions from the Markets Treasury business and a simplified 50% pass-on assumption applied for material entities as described below. This incorporates the effect of interest rate behaviouralisation, hypothetical managed rate product pricing assumptions and customer behaviour, including prepayment of mortgages under the specific interest rate scenarios. The scenarios represent interest rate shocks to the current market implied path of rates. The sensitivity calculations exclude pensions, insurance and investments in subsidiaries.

The NII sensitivity analysis performed in the case of a down-shock does not include floors to market rates, and it does not include floors on some wholesale assets and liabilities. However, floors have been maintained for deposits and loans to customers where this is contractual or where negative rates would not be applied.

As market and policy rates move, the degree to which these changes are passed on to customers will vary based on a number of factors, including the absolute level of market rates, regulatory and contractual frameworks, and competitive dynamics in particular markets. Previously we disclosed NII sensitivity using a range of different pass-on assumptions, varying by currency, product and market. To aid comparability between markets, we have simplified the basis of preparation for our disclosure, and have used a 50% pass-on assumption for major entities on certain

interest bearing deposits. Our pass-through asset assumptions are largely in line with our contractual agreements or established market practice, which typically results in a significant portion of interest rate changes being passed on. Using this basis has resulted in a modest reduction in interest rate sensitivities in comparison with the previous basis of preparation. Comparatives have not been restated.

The one-year and five-year NII sensitivities in the down-shock scenarios increased at 31 December 2021 at Group level when compared with 31 December 2020. This was driven by the changes in the forecasted yield curves and changes in balance sheet composition. The NII sensitivities are forecasted for the whole period of one and five years each quarter.

The NII sensitivities shown are hypothetical and based on simplified scenarios. Immediate interest rate rises of 25bps and 100bps would increase projected NII for the 12 months to31 December 2022 by $1,309m and $5,414m, respectively. Conversely, falls of 25bps and 100bps would decrease projected NII for the 12 months to 31 December 2022 by $1,952m and $5,761m, respectively.

The sensitivity of NII for 12 months increased by $66m in the plus 100bps parallel shock and increased by $907m in the minus 100bps parallel shock, comparing 31 December 2021 with31 December 2020. The increase in the sensitivity of NII for 12 months in the plus 100bps parallel shock was mainly driven by change in market sentiment, reflecting current market expectations of main policy rates and changes in pass-on assumptions referred to above.

The change in NII sensitivity for five years is also driven by the factors above.

The tables do not include Markets Treasury management actions or changes in Markets and Securities Services net trading income that may further limit the impact.

For further details on measurement of interest rate risk in the banking book, see page 191.

NII sensitivity to an instantaneous change in yield curves (12 months) - 1 year NII sensitivity by currency

Currency

$

HK$

£

Other

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Change in Jan 2022 to Dec 2022 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2021)

+25bps parallel

125

265

420

106

393

1,309

-25bps parallel

(257)

(536)

(594)

(170)

(395)

(1,952)

+100bps parallel

458

1,054

1,739

632

1,532

5,414

-100bps parallel

(466)

(1,020)

(2,070)

(595)

(1,610)

(5,761)

Change in Jan 2021 to Dec 2021 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2020)

+25bps parallel

223

423

555

126

320

1,647

-25bps parallel

(227)

(343)

(548)

(88)

(302)

(1,508)

+100bps parallel

546

1,267

1,811

502

1,222

5,348

-100bps parallel

(565)

(749)

(1,906)

(299)

(1,335)

(4,854)

.

NII sensitivity to an instantaneous change in yield curves (5 years) - Cumulative 5 years NII sensitivity by currency

Currency

$

HK$

£

Other

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Change in Jan 2022 to Dec 2026 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2021)

+25bps parallel

1,026

1,410

3,333

827

2,510

9,106

-25bps parallel

(1,701)

(2,887)

(4,216)

(997)

(2,600)

(12,401)

+100bps parallel

3,922

4,870

13,389

3,919

9,841

35,941

-100bps parallel

(5,060)

(7,052)

(14,893)

(3,571)

(10,481)

(41,057)

Change in Jan 2021 to Dec 2025 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2020)

+25bps parallel

1,233

1,732

3,718

761

2,128

9,571

-25bps parallel

(1,466)

(1,968)

(3,826)

(605)

(2,094)

(9,959)

+100bps parallel

3,891

6,465

12,571

3,020

8,203

34,149

-100bps parallel

(4,650)

(5,285)

(13,469)

(1,888)

(8,808)

(34,098)

The net interest income sensitivities arising from the scenarios presented in the tables above are not directly comparable. This is due to timing differences relating to interest rate changes and the repricing of assets and liabilities.

 

NII sensitivity to an instantaneous change in yield curves (5 years) - NII sensitivity by years

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Change in Jan 2022 to Dec 2026 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2021)

+25bps parallel

1,309

1,758

1,896

2,002

2,141

9,106

-25bps parallel

(1,952)

(2,324)

(2,593)

(2,687)

(2,845)

(12,401)

+100bps parallel

5,414

6,738

7,492

7,937

8,359

35,941

-100bps parallel

(5,761)

(7,664)

(8,675)

(9,354)

(9,603)

(41,057)

Change in Jan 2021 to Dec 2025 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2020)

+25bps parallel

1,647

1,866

1,930

2,028

2,100

9,571

-25bps parallel

(1,508)

(1,986)

(2,307)

(2,045)

(2,113)

(9,959)

+100bps parallel

5,348

6,538

7,083

7,444

7,736

34,149

-100bps parallel

(4,854)

(6,174)

(7,087)

(7,660)

(8,323)

(34,098)

 

Sensitivity of capital and reserves

Hold-to-collect-and-sell stressed value at risk ('VaR') is a quantification of the potential losses to a 99% confidence level of the portfolio of high-quality liquid assets held under a hold-to-collect-and-sell business model in the Markets Treasury business. The portfolio is accounted for at fair value through other comprehensive income together with the derivatives held in designated hedging relationships with these securities. The mark-to-market of this portfolio therefore has an impact on CET1. Stressed VaR is quantified based on the worst losses over a one-year period going back to the beginning of 2007 and the assumed holding period is 60 days. At the end of 2021, the stressed VaR of the portfolio was $3.63bn (2020: $2.94bn). The increase was mainly driven by the extension in the duration of our mortgage- backed securities exposures in US dollars as well as increases to the hold-to-collect-and-sell portfolios in US dollars and pounds sterling, partially offset by a reduction of exposure in a variety of other currencies.

Alongside our monitoring of the stressed VaR of this portfolio, we also monitor the sensitivity of reported cash flow hedging reserves to interest rate movements on a yearly basis by assessing the expected reduction in valuation of cash flow hedges due to parallel movements of plus or minus 100bps in all yield curves. Although we allow rates to go negative in this assessment, we apply a floor on the shocks in the minus 100bps scenario set at the lower of either minus 50bps or the central bank deposit rate. Due to increases in interest rates during 2021, the effect of this flooring has reduced significantly when compared with 2020.

The following table describes the sensitivity of our cash flow hedge reported reserves to the stipulated movements in yield curves at the year end. The sensitivities are indicative and based on simplified scenarios. These particular exposures form only a part of our overall interest rate exposure.

Comparing 31 December 2021 with 31 December 2020, the sensitivity of the cash flow hedging reserve increased by $866m in the plus 100bps scenario and increased by $1.13bn in the minus 100bps scenario. The increase in both scenarios was mainly driven by an increase in fixed rate pound sterling hedges transacted in HSBC UK Bank plc against a change in the interest rate risk behaviouralisation profile for non-interest-bearing current accounts. The increase in the down scenario is also driven by the reduced effect of flooring as interest rates increased over the year.

 

Sensitivity of cash flow hedging reported reserves to interest rate movements

$m

At 31 Dec 2021

+100 basis point parallel move in all yield curves

(1,531)

As a percentage of total shareholders' equity

(0.77)%

-100 basis point parallel move in all yield curves

1,537

As a percentage of total shareholders' equity

0.78%

At 31 Dec 2020

+100 basis point parallel move in all yield curves

(665)

As a percentage of total shareholders' equity

(0.34)%

-100 basis point parallel move in all yield curves

409

As a percentage of total shareholders' equity

0.21%

 

Third-party assets in Markets Treasury

Third-party assets in Markets Treasury increased by 8% compared with 31 December 2020. The net increase of $57bn is reflective of higher commercial surpluses during the year, with the increase of $115bn in 'Cash and balances at central banks' and decrease of

$52bn in 'Financial investments' being largely attributed to the reduction of investments in high-quality liquid assets driven by the change in outlook for interest rate expectations across many markets, with the resulting cash deployed with central banks.

Third-party assets in Markets Treasury

2021

2020

$m

$m

Cash and balances at central banks

379,106

263,656

Trading assets

329

392

Loans and advances:

- to banks

47,363

34,555

- to customers

371

1,167

Reverse repurchase agreements

47,067

61,693

Financial investments

338,692

391,017

Other

5,451

8,724

At 31 Dec

818,379

761,204

 

Defined benefit pension plans

Market risk arises within our defined benefit pension plans to the extent that the obligations of the plans are not fully matched by assets with determinable cash flows.

For details of our defined benefit plans, including asset allocation, see Note 5 on the financial statements, and for pension risk management, see page 192.

.

Additional market risk measures applicable only to the parent company

HSBC Holdings monitors and manages foreign exchange risk and interest rate risk. In order to manage interest rate risk, HSBC Holdings uses the projected sensitivity of its NII to future changes in yield curves and the interest rate repricing gap tables.

During 2021, HSBC Holdings issued approximately $19.3bn of debt, replacing $5.6bn of maturing or callable debt and generating $13.7bn of net new debt. A total $3.1bn of this new debt was left unhedged and the impact can be observed in the NII sensitivity tables where the 12 months sensitivity increased compared with last year.

Foreign exchange risk

HSBC Holdings' foreign exchange exposures derive almost entirely from the execution of structural foreign exchange hedges on behalf of the Group as its business-as-usual foreign exchange exposures are managed within tight risk limits. At 31 December 2021, HSBC Holdings had forward foreign exchange contracts of

$25.9bn (2020: $11.2bn) to manage the Group's structural foreign exchange exposures.

For further details of our structural foreign exchange exposures, see page 199.

Sensitivity of net interest income

HSBC Holdings monitors NII sensitivity over 12-month and five-year time horizons, reflecting the longer-term perspective on interest rate risk management appropriate to a financial services holding company. These sensitivities assume that any issuance where HSBC Holdings has an option to reimburse at a future call date is called at this date. The tables below set out the effect on HSBC Holdings' future NII based on the following scenarios:

• an immediate shock of 25 basis points ('bps') to the current market-implied path of interest rates across all currencies on1 January 2022; and

• an immediate shock of 100bps to the current market-implied path of interest rates across all currencies on 1 January 2022.

The NII sensitivities shown are indicative and based on simplified scenarios. Immediate interest rate rises of 25bps and 100bps would increase projected NII for the 12 months to 31 December 2022 by $29m and $113m, respectively. Conversely, falls of 25bps and 100bps would decrease projected NII for the 12 months to 31 December 2022 by $28m and $109m, respectively.

 

NII sensitivity to an instantaneous change in yield curves (12 months)

$

HK$

£

Other

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Change in Jan 2022 to Dec 2022 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2021)

+25bps

16

-

8

4

-

29

-25bps

(16)

-

(8)

(4)

-

(28)

+100bps

65

-

31

16

-

113

-100bps

(64)

-

(31)

(14)

-

(109)

Change in Jan 2021 to Dec 2021 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2020)

+25bps

13

-

8

2

-

23

-25bps

(13)

-

(8)

(3)

-

(23)

+100bps

50

-

33

7

-

91

-100bps

(51)

-

(32)

(13)

-

(95)

 

NII sensitivity to an instantaneous change in yield curves (5 years)

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Change in Jan 2022 to Dec 2022 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2021)

+25bps

29

44

45

38

28

184

-25bps

(28)

(44)

(45)

(38)

(28)

(183)

+100bps

113

177

180

152

112

733

-100bps

(109)

(174)

(174)

(148)

(109)

(715)

Change in Jan 2021 to Dec 2021 (based on balance sheet at 31 December 2020)

-

+25bps

23

40

43

39

31

176

-25bps

(23)

(42)

(46)

(41)

(32)

(184)

+100bps

91

159

171

156

126

702

-100bps

(95)

(169)

(189)

(169)

139

(761)

 

The figures represent hypothetical movements in NII based on our projected yield curve scenarios, HSBC Holdings' current interest rate risk profile and assumed changes to that profile during the next five years.

The sensitivities represent our assessment of the change to a hypothetical base case based on a static balance sheet assumption, and do not take into account the effect of actions that could be taken to mitigate this interest rate risk.

Interest rate repricing gap table

The interest rate risk on the fixed-rate securities issued by HSBC Holdings is not included within the Group VaR, but is managed on a repricing gap basis. The following 'Repricing gap analysis of HSBC Holdings' table analyses the full-term structure of interest rate mismatches within HSBC Holdings' balance sheet where debt issuances are reflected based on either the next repricing date if floating rate or the maturity/call date (whichever is first) if fixed rate.

 

 

Repricing gap analysis of HSBC Holdings

Total

Up to

1 year

From over

1 to 5 years

From over

5 to 10 years

More than

10 years

Non-interest

 bearing

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Cash at bank and in hand:

- balances with HSBC undertakings

2,590

2,590

Derivatives

2,811

2,811

Loans and advances to HSBC undertakings

76,516

22,545

29,759

20,347

2,000

1,865

Financial investments in HSBC undertakings

26,194

22,917

3,268

9

Investments in subsidiaries

163,211

5,425

8,395

600

148,791

Other assets

1,850

1,850

Total assets

273,172

53,477

41,422

20,947

2,000

155,326

Amounts owed to HSBC undertakings

(111)

(111)

Financial liabilities designated at fair values

(32,418)

(5,925)

(10,801)

(14,942)

(750)

Derivatives

(1,220)

(1,220)

Debt securities in issue

(67,483)

(11,244)

(34,917)

(19,322)

(2,000)

Other liabilities

(4,551)

(4,551)

Subordinated liabilities

(17,059)

(1,131)

(3,705)

(1,780)

(10,443)

Total equity

(150,330)

(2,446)

(11,096)

(8,721)

(128,067)

Total liabilities and equity

(273,172)

(20,746)

(60,519)

(44,765)

(13,193)

(133,949)

Off-balance sheet items attracting interest rate sensitivity

(18,797)

(10,871)

1,434

6,184

308

Net interest rate risk gap at 31 Dec 2021

13,952

(8,226)

(22,384)

(5,009)

21,667

Cumulative interest rate gap

13,952

5,726

(16,658)

(21,667)

Cash at bank and in hand:

- balances with HSBC undertakings

2,913

2,913

-

-

-

-

Derivatives

4,698

-

-

-

-

4,698

Loans and advances to HSBC undertakings

75,696

25,610

22,190

20,398

2,000

5,498

Financial investments in HSBC undertakings

17,485

15,112

2,771

-

-

(398)

Investments in subsidiaries

156,485

5,381

7,660

1,500

-

141,944

Other assets

1,721

257

-

-

-

1,464

Total assets

258,998

49,273

32,621

21,898

2,000

153,206

Amounts owed to HSBC undertakings

(330)

(330)

-

-

-

-

Financial liabilities designated at fair values

(25,664)

(1,827)

(6,533)

(13,535)

(750)

(3,019)

Derivatives

(3,060)

-

-

-

-

(3,060)

Debt securities in issue

(64,029)

(9,932)

(29,026)

(22,063)

(2,000)

(1,008)

Other liabilities

(5,375)

-

-

-

-

(5,375)

Subordinated liabilities

(17,916)

-

(3,839)

(1,780)

(10,463)

(1,834)

Total equity

(142,624)

(1,464)

(11,439)

(9,198)

(120,523)

Total liabilities and equity

(258,998)

(13,553)

(50,837)

(46,576)

(13,213)

(134,819)

Off-balance sheet items attracting interest rate sensitivity

(20,324)

11,562

2,492

6,200

70

Net interest rate risk gap at 31 Dec 20201

15,396

(6,654)

(22,186)

(5,013)

18,457

Cumulative interest rate gap

15,396

8,742

(13,444)

(18,457)

-

1 Investments in subsidiaries and equity have been allocated based on call dates for any callable bonds. The prior year figures have been amended to reflect this.

Market risk

Page

Overview

209

Market risk management

209

Market risk in 2021

210

Trading portfolios

211

Non-trading portfolios

212

Market risk balance sheet linkages

213

 

Overview

Market risk is the risk of adverse financial impact on trading activities arising from changes in market parameters such as interest rates, foreign exchange rates, asset prices, volatilities, correlations and credit spreads. Exposure to market risk is separated into two portfolios: trading portfolios and non-trading portfolios

Market risk management

Key developments in 2021

There were no material changes to our policies and practices for the management of market risk in 2021.

Governance and structure

The following diagram summarises the main business areas where trading and non-trading market risks reside, and the market risk measures used to monitor and limit exposures.

Trading risk

Non-trading risk

• Foreign exchange and commodities

• Interest rates

• Credit spreads

• Equities

• Interest rates1

• Credit spreads

• Foreign exchange

GBM

GBM, Global Treasury, CMB and WPB

Value at risk | Sensitivity | Stress testing

Value at risk | Sensitivity | Stress testing

1 The interest rate risk on the fixed-rate securities issued by HSBC Holdings is not included in the Group value at risk. The management of this risk is described on page 202.

Where appropriate, we apply similar risk management policies and measurement techniques to both trading and non-trading portfolios. Our objective is to manage and control market risk exposures to optimise return on risk while maintaining a market profile consistent with our established risk appetite.

Market risk is managed and controlled through limits approved by the Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer for HSBC Holdings. These limits are allocated across business lines and to the Group's legal entities. Each major operating entity has an independent market risk management and control sub-function, which is responsible for measuring, monitoring and reporting market risk exposures against limits on a daily basis. Each operating entity is required to assess the market risks arising in its business and to transfer them either to its local Markets and Securities Services or Markets Treasury unit for management, or to separate books managed under the supervision of the local ALCO. The Traded Risk function enforces the controls around trading in permissible instruments approved for each site as well as changes that follow completion of the new product approval process. Traded Risk also restricts trading in the more complex derivative products to offices with appropriate levels of product expertise and robust control systems.

Key risk management processes

Monitoring and limiting market risk exposures

Our objective is to manage and control market risk exposures while maintaining a market profile consistent with our risk appetite.

We use a range of tools to monitor and limit market risk exposures including sensitivity analysis, VaR and stress testing.

Sensitivity analysis

Sensitivity analysis measures the impact of individual market factor movements on specific instruments or portfolios, including interest rates, foreign exchange rates and equity prices. We use sensitivity measures to monitor the market risk positions within each risk type. Granular sensitivity limits are set for trading desks with consideration of market liquidity, customer demand and capital constraints, among other factors.

Value at risk

(Audited)

VaR is a technique for estimating potential losses on risk positions as a result of movements in market rates and prices over a specified time horizon and to a given level of confidence. The use of VaR is integrated into market risk management and calculated for all trading positions regardless of how we capitalise them. In addition, we calculate VaR for non-trading portfolios to have a complete picture of risk. Where we do not calculate VaR explicitly, we use alternative tools as summarised in the 'Stress testing' section below.

Our models are predominantly based on historical simulation that incorporates the following features:

• historical market rates and prices, which are calculated with reference to foreign exchange rates, commodity prices, interest rates, equity prices and the associated volatilities;

• potential market movements that are calculated with reference to data from the past two years; and

• calculations to a 99% confidence level and using a one-day holding period.

The models also incorporate the effect of option features on the underlying exposures. The nature of the VaR models means that an increase in observed market volatility will lead to an increase in VaR without any changes in the underlying positions.

VaR model limitations

Although a valuable guide to risk, VaR is used with awareness of its limitations. For example:

• The use of historical data as a proxy for estimating future market moves may not encompass all potential market events, particularly those that are extreme in nature.

• The use of a one-day holding period for risk management purposes of trading and non-trading books assumes that this short period is sufficient to hedge or liquidate all positions.

• The use of a 99% confidence level by definition does not take into account losses that might occur beyond this level of confidence.

• VaR is calculated on the basis of exposures outstanding at the close of business and therefore does not reflect intra-day exposures.

Risk not in VaR framework

The risks not in VaR ('RNIV') framework captures and capitalises material market risks that are not adequately covered in the VaR model.

Risk factors are reviewed on a regular basis and are either incorporated directly in the VaR models, where possible, or quantified through either the VaR-based RNIV approach or a stress test approach within the RNIV framework. While VaR-based RNIVs are calculated by using historical scenarios, stress-type RNIVs are estimated on the basis of stress scenarios whose severity is calibrated to be in line with the capital adequacy requirements. The outcome of the VaR-based RNIV approach is included in the overall VaR calculation but excluded from the VaR measure used for regulatory back-testing. In addition, the stressed VaR measure also includes risk factors considered in the VaR-based RNIV approach.

Stress-type RNIVs include a deal contingent derivatives capital charge to capture risk for these transactions and a de-peg risk measure to capture risk to pegged and heavily managed currencies.

Stress testing

Stress testing is an important procedure that is integrated into our market risk management framework to evaluate the potential impact on portfolio values of more extreme, although plausible, events or movements in a set of financial variables. In such scenarios, losses can be much greater than those predicted by VaR modelling.

Stress testing is implemented at legal entity, regional and overall Group levels. A set of scenarios is used consistently across all regions within the Group. The risk appetite around potential stress losses for the Group is set and monitored against a referral limit.

Market risk reverse stress tests are designed to identify vulnerabilities in our portfolios by looking for scenarios that lead to loss levels considered severe for the relevant portfolio. These scenarios may be quite local or idiosyncratic in nature, and complement the systematic top-down stress testing.

Stress testing and reverse stress testing provide senior management with insights regarding the 'tail risk' beyond VaR, for which our appetite is limited.

Trading portfolios

Trading portfolios comprise positions held for client servicing and market-making, with the intention of short-term resale and/or to hedge risks resulting from such positions.

Back-testing

We routinely validate the accuracy of our VaR models by back-testing the VaR metric against both actual and hypothetical profit and loss. Hypothetical profit and loss excludes non-modelled items such as fees, commissions and revenue of intra-day transactions. The hypothetical profit and loss reflects the profit and loss that would be realised if positions were held constant from the end of one trading day to the end of the next. This measure of profit and loss does not align with how risk is dynamically hedged, and is not therefore necessarily indicative of the actual performance of the business.

The number of back-testing exceptions is used to gauge how well the models are performing. We consider enhanced internal monitoring of a VaR model if more than five profit exceptions or more than five loss exceptions occur in a 250-day period.

We back-test our VaR at set levels of our Group entity hierarchy.

Market risk in 2021

Financial markets performed well in 2021. During the first half of the year, the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccination programmes, as well as continued monetary and fiscal support, contributed to a gradual recovery of major economies. Concerns of rising inflationary pressures were mainly interpreted as transitory. While the path of monetary policies remained uncertain, central banks continued to provide liquidity. This supported risk asset valuations, while volatility in most asset classes was subdued. In the second half of 2021, amid the emergence of new Covid-19 variants, global equities reached further record highs, as investors focused on global economic resilience and strong corporate earnings. Bond yields followed a downward trend for most of the third quarter of 2021, before reversing in the final weeks of the year, when markets began pricing in expectations of a faster pace of interest rate rises in some of the major economies, due to persistently elevated inflation. Credit markets remained strong, with credit benchmark indices for investment-grade and high-yield debt close to pre-pandemic levels.

We continued to manage market risk prudently during 2021. Sensitivity exposures and VaR remained within appetite as the business pursued its core market-making activity in support of our customers. Market risk was managed using a complementary set of risk measures and limits, including stress and scenario analysis.

 

Trading portfolios

Value at risk of the trading portfolios

Trading VaR was predominantly generated by the Markets and Securities Services business.

Trading VaR at 31 December 2021 did not change materially compared with 31 December 2020 and it remained within a relatively narrow range for most of 2021. On a consolidated portfolio basis, larger contributions from credit spread risks and foreign exchange risks were offset by:

• gains from exposures to equity risks and interest rate risks; and

• reduced equity risks captured in the RNIV framework.

On a stand-alone basis, credit spread risks and interest rate risks from fixed income market-making activities were the main drivers of VaR at the end of 2021, with larger contributions compared with the end of 2020.

The daily levels of total trading VaR during 2021 are set out in the graph below.

Daily VaR (trading portfolios), 99% 1 day ($m)

 

The Group trading VaR for the year is shown in the table below.

 

Trading VaR, 99% 1 day1

(Audited)

Foreign

exchange and commodity

Interest

rate

Equity

Credit

spread

Portfolio diversification2

Total3

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Balance at 31 Dec 2021

9.1

25.9

15.4

24.8

(36.5)

38.8

Average

12.9

33.8

16.7

19.2

(45.5)

37.1

Maximum

31.8

51.7

24.3

29.4

53.8

Minimum

6.7

18.5

12.1

12.2

27.7

Balance at 31 Dec 2020

13.7

20.3

21.5

24.3

(36.4)

43.4

Average

11.0

26.6

27.3

21.6

(38.3)

48.1

Maximum

25.7

43.5

42.0

44.1

69.3

Minimum

5.6

19.1

13.6

12.6

33.6

1 Trading portfolios comprise positions arising from the market-making and warehousing of customer-derived positions.

2 Portfolio diversification is the market risk dispersion effect of holding a portfolio containing different risk types. It represents the reduction in unsystematic market risk that occurs when combining a number of different risk types - such as interest rate, equity and foreign exchange - together in one portfolio. It is measured as the difference between the sum of the VaR by individual risk type and the combined total VaR. A negative number represents the benefit of portfolio diversification. As the maximum and minimum occurs on different days for different risk types, it is not meaningful to calculate a portfolio diversification benefit for these measures.

3 The total VaR is non-additive across risk types due to diversification effects.

The table below shows trading VaR at a 99% confidence level compared with trading VaR at a 95% confidence level at31 December 2021. This comparison facilitates the benchmarking

of the trading VaR, which can be stated at different confidence levels, with financial institution peers. The 95% VaR is unaudited.

Comparison of trading VaR, 99% 1 day vs trading VaR, 95% 1 day

Trading VaR, 99% 1 day

Trading VaR, 95% 1 day

$m

$m

Balance at 31 Dec 2021

38.8

21.6

Average

37.1

24.0

Maximum

53.8

30.0

Minimum

27.7

18.9

Balance at 31 Dec 2020

43.4

27.6

Average

48.1

32.7

Maximum

69.3

47.3

Minimum

33.6

22.4

 

Back-testing

During 2021, the Group experienced two loss back-testing exceptions against hypothetical profit and loss and two loss back-testing exceptions against actual profit and loss.

These exceptions comprised:

• a loss back-testing exception against hypothetical profit and loss in March, mainly driven by the effect of lower volatility in the equity markets and by the increase in some emerging markets foreign exchange forward rates volatilities;

• a loss exception against actual profit and loss in September, attributable to the payment of novation fees under our RWA optimisation programme; and

• a loss back-testing exception against both hypothetical and actual profit and loss in late November, due to a number of relatively small losses spread across credit spread, equity and interest rates asset classes.

 

Non-trading portfolios

Non-trading portfolios comprise positions that primarily arise from the interest rate management of our retail and commercial banking assets and liabilities, financial investments measured at

fair value through other comprehensive income, debt instruments measured at amortised cost, and exposures arising from our insurance operations.

Value at risk of the non-trading portfolios

The VaR for non-trading activity at 31 December 2021 was lower than at 31 December 2020. The decrease arose mainly from an increase in the diversification benefit across interest rate and credit exposures. On a stand-alone basis, interest rate VaR increased, mainly due to higher levels of market volatility observed in February 2021, while credit VaR reduced over the year driven by a reduction in credit spread exposure in the portfolio of non-trading financial instruments managed by Markets Treasury.

Non-trading VaR includes the interest rate risk in the banking book transferred to and managed by Markets Treasury and the exposures generated by the portfolio of high-quality liquid assets held by Markets Treasury to meet liquidity requirements. The management of interest rate risk in the banking book is described further in the 'Net interest income sensitivity' section.

The daily levels of total non-trading VaR in 2021 are set out in the graph below.

Daily VaR (non-trading portfolios), 99% 1 day ($m)

 

The Group non-trading VaR for 2021 is shown in the table below.

Non-trading VaR, 99% 1 day

(Audited)

Interest

rate

Credit

spread

Portfoliodiversification1

Total2

$m

$m

$m

$m

Balance at 31 Dec 2021

216.4

70.3

(66.3)

220.4

Average

200.7

76.9

(40.3)

237.3

Maximum

248.7

99.3

-

298.8

Minimum

163.3

64.7

-

193.5

Balance at 31 Dec 2020

166.6

87.0

(5.7)

247.8

Average

150.2

82.5

(42.0)

190.7

Maximum

196.4

133.4

-

274.6

Minimum

59.0

44.2

-

79.7

1 Portfolio diversification is the market risk dispersion effect of holding a portfolio containing different risk types. It represents the reduction in unsystematic market risk that occurs when combining a number of different risk types - such as interest rate and credit spreads - together in one portfolio. It is measured as the difference between the sum of the VaR by individual risk type and the combined total VaR. A negative number represents the benefit of portfolio diversification. As the maximum and minimum occurs on different days for different risk types, it is not meaningful to calculate a portfolio diversification benefit for these measures.

2 The total VaR is non-additive across risk types due to diversification effects.

Non-trading VaR excludes equity risk on securities held at fair value, non-trading book foreign exchange risk and interest rate risk on fixed-rate securities issued by HSBC Holdings. HSBC's management of market risks in non-trading books is described further in the Treasury Risk section.

Market risk balance sheet linkages

The following balance sheet lines in the Group's consolidated position are subject to market risk:

Trading assets and liabilities

The Group's trading assets and liabilities are in almost all cases originated by GBM. These assets and liabilities are treated as traded risk for the purposes of market risk management, other than a limited number of exceptions, primarily in Global Banking where the short-term acquisition and disposal of the assets are linked to other non-trading-related activities such as loan origination.

Derivative assets and liabilities

We undertake derivative activity for three primary purposes: to create risk management solutions for clients, to manage the portfolio risks arising from client business, and to manage and hedge our own risks. Most of our derivative exposures arise from sales and trading activities within GBM. The assets and liabilities included in trading VaR give rise to a large proportion of the income included in net income from financial instruments held for trading or managed on a fair value basis. Adjustments to trading income such as valuation adjustments are not measured by the trading VaR model.

For information on the accounting policies applied to financial instruments at fair value, see Note 1 on the financial statements

Resilience risk

Overview

Resilience risk is the risk that we are unable to provide critical services to our customers, affiliates and counterparties as a result of sustained and significant operational disruption. Resilience risk arises from failures or inadequacies in processes, people, systems or external events.

Resilience risk management

Key developments in 2021

The Operational and Resilience Risk sub-function provides robust non-financial risk steward oversight of the management of risk by the Group businesses, functions and legal entities. It also provides effective and timely independent challenge. During the year, we carried out a number of initiatives to strengthen the management of non-financial risks:

• We developed a more robust understanding of our risk and control environment, by updating our material risk taxonomy and control libraries, and refreshing material risk and control assessments.

• We further strengthened our non-financial risk governance and senior leadership.

• We created a consolidated view of all risk issues across the Group, enabling better senior management focus on non-financial risk, and the ability to identify material control issues and intervention as required.

• We improved how we provide analysis and reporting of non-financial risks, with more risk practitioners now having access to a wider range of management information on their risks and controls.

• We increased the capability of risk stewards to allow for effective stewardship to be in place across the Group.

• We strengthened our approach in the comparison of issues and near misses by implementing a Group-wide harmonised approach across businesses, functions and regions.

• We enhanced risk management oversight across our most material change initiatives to support growth in our strategic transformation.

We prioritise our efforts on material risks and areas undergoing strategic growth, aligning our location strategy to this need. We also remotely provide oversight and stewardship, including support of chief risk officers, in territories where we have no physical presence.

Governance and structure

The Operational and Resilience Risk target operating model provides a globally consistent view across resilience risks, strengthening our risk management oversight while operating effectively as part of a simplified non-financial risk structure. We view resilience risk across seven risk types related to: third parties and supply chains; information, technology and cybersecurity; payments and manual processing; physical security; business interruption and contingency risk; building unavailability; and workplace safety.

A principal senior management meeting for operational and resilience risk governance is the Non-Financial Risk Management Board, chaired by the Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, with an escalation path to the Group Risk Management Meeting.

Key risk management processes

Operational resilience is our ability to anticipate, prevent, adapt, respond to, recover and learn from internal or external disruption, protecting customers, the markets we operate in and economic stability. Resilience is determined by assessing whether we are able to continue to provide our most important services, within an agreed level. We accept we will not be able to prevent all disruption but we prioritise investment to continually improve the response and recovery strategies for our most important business services.

Business operations continuity

Business continuity, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, remains in place across a number of locations where the Group operates, allowing the majority of service level agreements to be maintained. There were no significant impacts to service delivery in locations where the Group operates.

Regulatory compliance risk

Overview

Regulatory compliance risk is the risk associated with breaching our duty to clients and other counterparties, inappropriate market conduct and breaching related financial services regulatory standards. Regulatory compliance risk arises from the failure to observe relevant laws, codes, rules and regulations and can manifest itself in poor market or customer outcomes and lead to fines, penalties and reputational damage to our business.

Regulatory compliance risk management

Key developments in 2021

We continued to embed the structural changes made in 2020 to our wider approach to compliance risk management. The integration of the Risk and Compliance functions in May 2021 has brought together two complementary functions, which will strengthen the regulatory compliance function's mandate and our capability to drive the right standards with regard to the conduct of our business.

In June 2021, we also announced our new purpose-led approach to conduct. As part of this, we took the opportunity to align and simplify our approach, making conduct easier to understand and showing how it relates to and helps fulfil our value: 'we take responsibility'.

Governance and structure

Following the integration of the Global Risk and Compliance functions, the Group Head of Compliance and the Group Head of Financial Crime - who is also the Group Money Laundering Reporting Officer - each report to the Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer. They also each attend the Risk and Compliance Executive Committee, the Group RMM and the GRC. The structure of the Compliance function below this level is substantively unchanged and the Group Regulatory Conduct capability and Group Financial Crime capability both continue to work closely with the regional chief compliance officers and their respective teams to help them identify and manage regulatory and financial crime compliance risks across the Group. They also work together to ensure we achieve good conduct outcomes and provide enterprise-wide support on the Compliance risk agenda in collaboration with the Group's Risk function.

Key risk management processes

The Group Regulatory Conduct capability is responsible for setting global policies, standards and risk appetite to guide the Group's management of regulatory compliance risk. It also devises the required frameworks and support processes to protect against regulatory compliance risks. The Group capability provides oversight, review and challenge to the regional chief compliance officers and their teams to help them identify, assess and mitigate regulatory compliance risks, where required. The Group's regulatory compliance risk policies are regularly reviewed. Global policies and procedures require the prompt identification and escalation of any actual or potential regulatory breaches, and relevant reportable events are escalated to the Group RMM and the GRC, as appropriate.

Conduct of business

Our new, simplified conduct approach, which was launched in 2021, guides us to do the right thing and to recognise the real impact we have for our customers and the financial markets in which we operate. It complements our purpose and values, setting outcomes to be achieved for our customers and markets. It recognises cultural and behavioural drivers of good conduct outcomes and applies across all risk disciplines, operational processes and technologies. During 2021:

• We understood and served our customers' ongoing needs, and continued to champion a strong conduct and customer-focused culture. This was demonstrated through the continued provision of support to our customers facing financial difficulties as a result of the prolonged impacts of the pandemic and the resulting uncertainty in trading conditions.

• We began the integration of climate risk into the Group's risk management approach to recognise the importance of strengthened controls and oversight for our related activities.

• We operated resiliently and securely to avoid harm to our customers and markets by continuing to embed conduct within our business line processes and through our non-financial and financial risk steward activities.

• We continued our focus on culture and behaviours as a driver of good conduct outcomes.

• We placed a particular focus on the importance of well-being and collaborative working as we continued to adapt to changing working practices as the pace of change resulting from the pandemic varied across our markets.

• We continued to emphasise - and worked to create - an environment in which employees are encouraged and feel safe to speak up.

• We delivered our latest annual global mandatory training course on conduct to reinforce the importance of conduct for all colleagues.

The Board continues to maintain oversight of conduct matters through the GRC.

Further details can be found under the 'Our conduct' section of www.hsbc.com/our-approach/risk-and-responsibility.

 

Financial crime risk

Overview

Financial crime risk is the risk of knowingly or unknowingly helping parties to commit or to further illegal activity through HSBC, including money laundering, fraud, bribery and corruption, tax evasion, sanctions breaches, and terrorist and proliferation financing. Financial crime risk arises from day-to-day banking operations involving customers, third parties and employees.

Financial crime risk management

Key developments in 2021

We continuously review the effectiveness of our financial crime risk management framework, which includes consideration of the complex and dynamic nature of sanctions risk, notably with respect to the array of new regulations and designations in 2021 and in alignment with our policy, which is to comply with all applicable sanctions regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate.

We also continued to make progress with several key financial crime risk management initiatives, including:

• We deployed a key component of our intelligence-led, dynamic risk assessment capabilities for customer account monitoring in the UK, and undertook important enhancements to our traditional transaction monitoring systems globally.

• We strengthened our anti-fraud capabilities, notably with respect to the early identification of first-party lending fraud and the development of new strategic detection tools.

• We continued the development of leading-edge surveillance technology and capabilities to identify potential market abuse, including testing machine learning capabilities to detect unauthorised trading.

• We invested in the use of AI and advanced analytics techniques to manage financial crime risk, notably new automated capabilities in name and transaction screening (for further details, see page 120).

• We implemented a gifts and entertainment recording and approval system, which, in combination with an expenses reconciliation tool, allows us to better manage our gifts and entertainment risk.

Governance and structure

We have continued to review the effectiveness of our governance framework to manage financial crime risk. The framework aims to enable us to comply with the letter and the spirit of applicable financial crime laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate, as well as our own policies, standards, and values relating to financial crime risks.

In 2021, the Group Risk and Compliance functions were integrated, allowing us to make better use of a broader range of perspectives from other risk disciplines.

Key risk management processes

We will not tolerate knowingly conducting business with individuals or entities believed to be engaged in illicit activity. We require everybody in HSBC to play their role in maintaining effective systems and controls to prevent and detect financial crime. Where we believe we have identified suspected illicit activity or vulnerabilities in our control framework, we will take appropriate mitigating action.

We continue to assess the effectiveness of our end-to-end financial crime risk management framework on an ongoing basis, and invest in enhancing our operational control capabilities and technology solutions to deter and detect criminal activity. We have simplified our framework by streamlining and de-duplicating policy requirements. We also strengthened our financial crime risk taxonomy and control libraries and our investigative and monitoring capabilities through technology deployments. We developed more targeted metrics, and have also enhanced our governance and reporting.

We are committed to working in partnership with the wider industry and the public sector in managing financial crime risk, protecting the integrity of the financial system and the communities we serve. We participate in numerous public-private partnerships and information-sharing initiatives around the world. In 2021, the UK, the EU, the US and Singapore, were particularly focused on anti-money laundering ('AML') reforms, to which we provided significant input. We played a key role in the industry responses to a number of consultation papers focused on the overall effectiveness of the global AML framework. We were also active participants in a key pilot undertaken by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which establishes a framework to enable financial institutions to share information with each other when certain financial crime risk concerns have been identified. We took part in a number of roundtables organised by the Financial Action Task Force, supporting its strategic review. We also supported its work on digitisation and beneficial ownership registers. These align with our objectives of promoting a public policy and regulatory environment that embraces the use and harnessing of technology in building a financial crime framework for the future to ensure our organisation is more resilient and secure, while benefiting our customers.

Skilled Person/Independent Consultant

In December 2012, HSBC Holdings entered into a number of agreements, including an undertaking with the UK Financial Services Authority (replaced with a Direction issued by the UK Financial Conduct Authority ('FCA') in 2013 and again in 2020), as well as a cease-and-desist order with the US Federal Reserve Board ('FRB'), both of which contained certain forward-looking AML and sanctions-related obligations. Over the past several years, HSBC has retained a Skilled Person under section 166 of the Financial Services and Markets Act and an Independent Consultant under the FRB cease-and-desist order to produce periodic assessments of the Group's AML and sanctions compliance programme.

The Skilled Person issued its final report in June 2021, which contained a number of limited recommendations. Following publication of the report, the FCA determined that no further Skilled Person work is required. The Group Risk Committee will continue to retain oversight of matters relating to AML, sanctions, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. Separately, the Independent Consultant carried out its eighth annual review for the FRB and, in November 2021, issued its report, which contained a limited number of recommendations.

Model risk

Overview

Model risk is the risk of inappropriate or incorrect business decisions arising from the use of models that have been inadequately designed, implemented or used, or from models that do not perform in line with expectations and predictions.

Model risk arises in both financial and non-financial contexts whenever business decision making includes reliance on models.

Key developments in 2021

In 2021, we continued to make improvements in our model risk management processes amid regulatory changes in model requirements.

Initiatives during the year included:

• In response to regulatory capital charges, we redeveloped, validated and submitted to the PRA our models for the internal ratings-based ('IRB') approach for credit risk, internal model method ('IMM') for counterparty credit risk and internal model approach ('IMA') for market risk. These new models have been built to enhanced standards using improved data as a result of investment in processes and systems.

• We redeveloped and validated models impacted by changes to alternative rate setting mechanisms due to the Ibor transition.

• We made further enhancements to our control framework for our Sarbanes-Oxley models to address the control weaknesses that emerged as a result of significant increases in adjustments and overlays that were applied to compensate for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on models. We also introduced a requirement for the model risk stewards to approve material models prior to use.

• Our businesses and functions were more involved in the development and management of models, and hiring colleagues who had strong model risk skills. They also put an enhanced focus on key model risk drivers such as data quality and model methodology.

• Our model owners in businesses and functions fully embedded the requirements included in the model risk policy and standards introduced in 2020.

• We delivered a suite of training on model risk to front-line teams to improve their awareness of model risk and their adherence to the governance framework.

• We rolled out new model risk appetite measures, which are more forward looking and will help our businesses and functions manage model risk more effectively.

• We continued the transformation of the Model Risk Management team, with changes to the model validation processes, including new systems and processes. Key senior hires were made during the year to lead the business areas and regions to strengthen oversight and expertise within the function. We also made changes to the model inventory system to provide businesses and functions with improved functionality and more detailed information related to model risk.

We initiated a programme of development related to climate risk and models using advanced analytics and machine learning, which have become critical areas of focus that will grow in importance in 2022 and beyond. We also added qualified specialist skills to the model risk teams to manage the increased model risk in these areas.Governance and structure

The new governance structure implemented in 2020 is fully operational. Model Risk Governance committees at the Group, business and functional levels provide oversight of model risk. The committees include senior leaders from the three global businesses and the Global Risk and Compliance function, and focus on model-related concerns and are supported by key model risk metrics. The Group-level Model Risk Committee is chaired by the Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer and the heads of key businesses participate in those meetings.

Key risk management processes

We use a variety of modelling approaches, including regression, simulation, sampling, machine learning and judgemental scorecards for a range of business applications. These activities include customer selection, product pricing, financial crime transaction monitoring, creditworthiness evaluation and financial reporting. Global responsibility for managing model risk is delegated from the RMM to the Group Model Risk Committee, which is chaired by the Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer. This committee regularly reviews our model risk management policies and procedures, and requires the first line of defence to demonstrate comprehensive and effective controls based on a library of model risk controls provided by Model Risk Management.

Model Risk Management also reports on model risk to senior management on a regular basis through the use of the risk map, risk appetite metrics and top and emerging risks.

We regularly review the effectiveness of these processes, including the model oversight committee structure, to help ensure appropriate understanding and ownership of model risk is embedded in the businesses and functions.

Insurance manufacturing operations risk

Page

Overview

210

Insurance manufacturing operations risk management

210

Insurance manufacturing operations risk in 2021

212

Measurement

212

Key risk types

214

- Market risk

214

- Credit risk

215

- Liquidity risk

215

- Insurance underwriting risk

216

 

Overview

The key risks for our insurance manufacturing operations are market risks, in particular interest rate and equity, credit risks and insurance underwriting and operational risks. These have a direct impact on the financial results and capital positions of the insurance operations. Liquidity risk, while significant in other parts of the Group, is relatively minor for our insurance operations.

HSBC's insurance business

We sell insurance products worldwide through a range of channels including our branches, direct channels and third-party distributors. The majority of sales are through an integrated bancassurance model that provides insurance products principally for customers with whom we have a banking relationship.

The insurance contracts we sell relate to the underlying needs of our customers, which we can identify from our point-of-sale contacts and customer knowledge. For the products we manufacture, the majority of sales are savings, universal life and protection contracts.

We choose to manufacture these insurance products in HSBC subsidiaries based on an assessment of operational scale and risk appetite. Manufacturing insurance allows us to retain the risks and rewards associated with writing insurance contracts by keeping part of the underwriting profit and investment income within the Group.

We have life insurance manufacturing subsidiaries in eight markets, which are Hong Kong, Singapore, mainland China, France, the UK, Malta, Mexico and Argentina. We also have a life insurance manufacturing associate in India.

Where we do not have the risk appetite or operational scale to be an effective insurance manufacturer, we engage with a small number of leading external insurance companies in order to provide insurance products to our customers through our banking network and direct channels. These arrangements are generally structured with our exclusive strategic partners and earn the Group a combination of commissions, fees and a share of profits. We distribute insurance products in all of our geographical regions.

This section focuses only on the risks relating to the insurance products we manufacture.

Insurance manufacturing operations risk management

Key developments in 2021

The insurance manufacturing subsidiaries follow the Group's risk management framework. In addition, there are specific policies and practices relating to the risk management of insurance contracts. There were no material changes to the policies and practices over 2021, although enhancements were made to the product pricing and profitability framework to allow for the transition to IFRS 17.

Governance and structure

(Audited)

Insurance manufacturing risks are managed to a defined risk appetite, which is aligned to the Group's risk appetite and risk management framework, including its three lines of defence model. For details of the Group's governance framework, see page 122. The Global Insurance Risk Management Meeting oversees the control framework globally and is accountable to the WPB Risk Management Meeting on risk matters relating to the insurance business.

The monitoring of the risks within our insurance operations is carried out by Insurance Risk teams. The Group's risk stewardship functions support the Insurance Risk teams in their respective areas of expertise.

Stress and scenario testing

(Audited)

Stress testing forms a key part of the risk management framework for the insurance business. We participate in local and Group-wide regulatory stress tests, as well as internally developed stress and scenario tests, including Group internal stress test exercises.

The results of these stress tests and the adequacy of management action plans to mitigate these risks are considered in the Group's ICAAP and the entities' regulatory Own Risk and Solvency Assessments ('ORSAs').

Key risk management processes

Market risk

(Audited)

All our insurance manufacturing subsidiaries have market risk mandates and limits that specify the investment instruments in which they are permitted to invest and the maximum quantum of market risk that they may retain. They manage market risk by using, among others, some or all of the techniques listed below, depending on the nature of the contracts written:

• We are able to adjust bonus rates to manage the liabilities to policyholders for products with discretionary participating features ('DPF'). The effect is that a significant portion of the market risk is borne by the policyholder.

• We use asset and liability matching where asset portfolios are structured to support projected liability cash flows. The Group manages its assets using an approach that considers asset quality, diversification, cash flow matching, liquidity, volatility and target investment return. We use models to assess the effect of a range of future scenarios on the values of financial assets and associated liabilities, and ALCOs employ the outcomes in determining how best to structure asset holdings to support liabilities.

• We use derivatives to protect against adverse market movements.

• We design new products to mitigate market risk, such as changing the investment return sharing portion between policyholders and the shareholder.

• We exit, to the extent possible, investment portfolios whose risk is considered unacceptable.

Credit risk

(Audited)

Our insurance manufacturing subsidiaries also have credit risk mandates and limits within which they are permitted to operate, which consider the credit risk exposure, quality and performance of their investment portfolios. Our assessment of the creditworthiness of issuers and counterparties is based primarily upon internationally recognised credit ratings and other publicly available information.

Stress testing is performed on investment credit exposures using credit spread sensitivities and default probabilities.

We use a number of tools to manage and monitor credit risk. These include a credit report containing a watch-list of investments with current credit concerns, primarily investments that may be at risk of future impairment or where high concentrations to counterparties are present in the investment portfolio. Sensitivities to credit spread risk are assessed and monitored regularly.

Capital and liquidity risk

(Audited)

Capital risk for our insurance manufacturing subsidiaries is assessed in the Group's ICAAP based on their financial capacity to support the risks to which they are exposed. Capital adequacy is

assessed on both the Group's economic capital basis, and the relevant local insurance regulatory basis. The Group's economic capital basis is largely aligned to European Solvency II regulations, other than in Hong Kong where this is based on the emerging Hong Kong risk based capital regulations.

Risk appetite buffers are set to ensure that the operations are able to remain solvent on both bases, allowing for business-as-usual volatility and extreme but plausible stress events.

Liquidity risk is managed by cash flow matching and maintaining sufficient cash resources, investing in high credit-quality investments with deep and liquid markets, monitoring investment concentrations and restricting them where appropriate, and establishing committed contingency borrowing facilities.

Insurance manufacturing subsidiaries complete quarterly liquidity risk reports and an annual review of the liquidity risks to which they are exposed.

Insurance underwriting risk

Our insurance manufacturing subsidiaries primarily use the following frameworks and processes to manage and mitigate insurance underwriting risks:

• a formal approval process for launching new products or making changes to products;

• a product pricing and profitability framework, which requires initial and ongoing assessment of the adequacy of premiums charged on new insurance contracts to meet the risks associated with them;

• a framework for customer underwriting;

• reinsurance, which cedes risks above our appetite thresholds to a third-party reinsurer thereby limiting our exposure; and

• oversight of expense and reserve risks by entity Actuarial Control Committees.

Insurance manufacturing operations risk in 2021

Measurement

The following tables show the composition of assets and liabilities by contract type and by geographical region.

Balance sheet of insurance manufacturing subsidiaries by type of contract1

(Audited)

With

DPF

Unit-linked

Other contracts2

Shareholderassets and liabilities

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Financial assets

88,969

8,881

19,856

9,951

127,657

- financial assets designated and otherwise mandatorily measured at fair value through profit or loss

30,669

8,605

3,581

1,827

44,682

- derivatives

129

1

15

2

147

- financial investments at amortised cost

42,001

61

14,622

4,909

61,593

- financial investments at fair value through other comprehensive income

10,858

-

459

1,951

13,268

- other financial assets3

5,312

214

1,179

1,262

7,967

Reinsurance assets

2,180

72

1,666

3

3,921

PVIF4

-

-

-

9,453

9,453

Other assets and investment properties

2,558

1

206

820

3,585

Total assets

93,707

8,954

21,728

20,227

144,616

Liabilities under investment contracts designated at fair value

-

2,297

3,641

-

5,938

Liabilities under insurance contracts

89,492

6,558

16,757

-

112,807

Deferred tax5

179

9

24

1,418

1,630

Other liabilities

-

-

-

7,269

7,269

Total liabilities

89,671

8,864

20,422

8,687

127,644

Total equity

-

-

-

16,972

16,972

Total liabilities and equity at 31 Dec 2021

89,671

8,864

20,422

25,659

144,616

 

Financial assets

84,478

8,802

18,932

8,915

121,127

- financial assets designated and otherwise mandatorily measured at fair value through profit or loss

26,002

8,558

3,508

1,485

39,553

- derivatives

262

3

13

3

281

- financial investments at amortised cost

39,891

30

13,984

4,521

58,426

- financial investments at fair value through other comprehensive income

12,531

-

459

1,931

14,921

- other financial assets3

5,792

211

968

975

7,946

Reinsurance assets

2,256

65

1,447

2

3,770

PVIF4

-

-

-

9,435

9,435

Other assets and investment properties

2,628

1

227

721

3,577

Total assets

89,362

8,868

20,606

19,073

137,909

Liabilities under investment contracts designated at fair value

-

2,285

4,100

-

6,385

Liabilities under insurance contracts

84,931

6,503

15,827

-

107,261

Deferred tax5

145

5

25

1,400

1,575

Other liabilities

-

-

-

7,244

7,244

Total liabilities

85,076

8,793

19,952

8,644

122,465

Total equity

-

-

-

15,444

15,444

Total liabilities and equity at 31 Dec 2020

85,076

8,793

19,952

24,088

137,909

1 Balance sheet of insurance manufacturing operations is shown before elimination of inter-company transactions with HSBC non-insurance operations.

2 'Other contracts' includes term insurance, credit life insurance, universal life insurance and investment contracts not included in the 'Unit-linked' or 'With DPF' columns.

3 Comprise mainly loans and advances to banks, cash and inter-company balances with other non-insurance legal entities.

4 Present value of in-force long-term insurance business.

5 'Deferred tax' includes the deferred tax liabilities arising on recognition of PVIF.

5

Balance sheet of insurance manufacturing subsidiaries by geographical region1,2

(Audited)

Europe

Asia

Latin

America

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

Financial assets

34,264

92,535

858

127,657

- financial assets designated and otherwise mandatorily measured at fair value through profit or loss

19,030

25,248

404

44,682

- derivatives

65

82

-

147

- financial investments - at amortised cost

1,161

60,389

43

61,593

- financial investments - at fair value through other comprehensive income

12,073

817

378

13,268

- other financial assets3

1,935

5,999

33

7,967

Reinsurance assets

213

3,703

5

3,921

PVIF4

1,098

8,177

178

9,453

Other assets and investment properties

1,091

2,431

63

3,585

Total assets

36,666

106,846

1,104

144,616

Liabilities under investment contracts designated at fair value

1,396

4,542

-

5,938

Liabilities under insurance contracts

30,131

81,840

836

112,807

Deferred tax5

250

1,357

23

1,630

Other liabilities

2,711

4,523

35

7,269

Total liabilities

34,488

92,262

894

127,644

Total equity

2,178

14,584

210

16,972

Total liabilities and equity at 31 Dec 2021

36,666

106,846

1,104

144,616

Financial assets

34,768

85,259

1,100

121,127

- financial assets designated and otherwise mandatorily measured at fair value through profit or loss

17,184

22,099

270

39,553

- derivatives

107

174

-

281

- financial investments - at amortised cost

531

57,420

475

58,426

- financial investments - at fair value through other comprehensive income

13,894

706

321

14,921

- other financial assets3

3,052

4,860

34

7,946

Reinsurance assets

245

3,521

4

3,770

PVIF4

884

8,390

161

9,435

Other assets and investment properties

1,189

2,332

56

3,577

Total assets

37,086

99,502

1,321

137,909

Liabilities under investment contracts designated at fair value

1,288

5,097

-

6,385

Liabilities under insurance contracts

31,153

74,994

1,114

107,261

Deferred tax5

204

1,348

23

1,575

Other liabilities

2,426

4,800

18

7,244

Total liabilities

35,071

86,239

1,155

122,465

Total equity

2,015

13,263

166

15,444

Total liabilities and equity at 31 Dec 2020

37,086

99,502

1,321

137,909

1 HSBC has no insurance manufacturing subsidiaries in the Middle East and North Africa or North America.

2 Balance sheet of insurance manufacturing operations is shown before elimination of inter-company transactions with HSBC non-insurance operations.

3 Comprise mainly loans and advances to banks, cash and inter-company balances with other non-insurance legal entities.

4 Present value of in-force long-term insurance business.

5 'Deferred tax' includes the deferred tax liabilities arising on recognition of PVIF.

 

Key risk types

Market risk

(Audited)

Description and exposure

Market risk is the risk of changes in market factors affecting HSBC's capital or profit. Market factors include interest rates, equity and growth assets and foreign exchange rates.

Our exposure varies depending on the type of contract issued. Our most significant life insurance products are contracts with discretionary participating features ('DPF'). These products typically include some form of capital guarantee or guaranteed return on the sums invested by the policyholders, to which discretionary bonuses are added if allowed by the overall performance of the funds. These funds are primarily invested in fixed interest, with a proportion allocated to other asset classes to provide customers with the potential for enhanced returns.

DPF products expose HSBC to the risk of variation in asset returns, which will impact our participation in the investment performance.

 

In addition, in some scenarios the asset returns can become insufficient to cover the policyholders' financial guarantees, in which case the shortfall has to be met by HSBC. Amounts are held against the cost of such guarantees, calculated by stochastic modelling.

The cost of such guarantees is accounted for as a deduction from the present value of in-force ('PVIF') asset, unless the cost of such guarantees is already explicitly allowed for within the insurance contract liabilities.

The following table shows the total reserve held for the cost of guarantees, the range of investment returns on assets supporting these products and the implied investment return that would enable the business to meet the guarantees.

The cost of guarantees decreased to $938m (2020: $1,105m) primarily due to the increase in swap rates and positive equity performance in France and Hong Kong.

For unit-linked contracts, market risk is substantially borne by the policyholder, but some market risk exposure typically remains, as fees earned are related to the market value of the linked assets.

Financial return guarantees

(Audited)

2021

2020

Investment returns implied by guarantee

Long-term investment returns on relevant portfolios

Cost of guarantees

Investment returns implied by guarantee

Long-term investment returns on relevant portfolios

Cost of guarantees

%

%

$m

%

%

$m

Capital

0.0

0.7-3.2

220

0.0

0.7-3.2

277

Nominal annual return

0.1-1.9

2.3-3.6

423

0.1-1.9

2.3-3.6

515

Nominal annual return

2.0-3.9

2.0-4.5

183

2.0-3.9

2.0-4.5

180

Nominal annual return

4.0-5.0

2.0-4.2

112

4.0-5.0

2.0-4.2

133

At 31 Dec

938

1,105

 

Sensitivities

Changes in financial market factors, from the economic assumptions in place at the start of the year, had a positive impact on reported profit before tax of $516m (2020: $102m). The following table illustrates the effects of selected interest rate, equity price and foreign exchange rate scenarios on our profit for the year and the total equity of our insurance manufacturing subsidiaries.

Where appropriate, the effects of the sensitivity tests on profit after tax and equity incorporate the impact of the stress on the PVIF.

Due in part to the impact of the cost of guarantees and hedging strategies, which may be in place, the relationship between the

profit and total equity and the risk factors is non-linear, particularly in a low interest-rate environment. Therefore, the results disclosed should not be extrapolated to measure sensitivities to different levels of stress. For the same reason, the impact of the stress is not necessarily symmetrical on the upside and downside. The sensitivities are stated before allowance for management actions, which may mitigate the effect of changes in the market environment. The sensitivities presented allow for adverse changes in policyholder behaviour that may arise in response to changes in market rates. The differences between the impacts on profit after tax and equity are driven by the changes in value of the bonds measured at fair value through other comprehensive income, which are only accounted for in equity.

 

Sensitivity of HSBC's insurance manufacturing subsidiaries to market risk factors

(Audited)

2021

2020

Effect on

profit after tax

Effect on

total equity

Effect on

profit after tax

Effect on

total equity

$m

$m

$m

$m

+100 basis point parallel shift in yield curves

(2)

(142)

(67)

(188)

-100 basis point parallel shift in yield curves

(154)

(9)

(68)

58

10% increase in equity prices

369

369

332

332

10% decrease in equity prices

(377)

(377)

(338)

(338)

10% increase in US dollar exchange rate compared with all currencies

80

80

84

84

10% decrease in US dollar exchange rate compared with all currencies

(80)

(80)

(84)

(84)

 

Credit risk

(Audited)

Description and exposure

Credit risk is the risk of financial loss if a customer or counterparty fails to meet their obligation under a contract. It arises in two main areas for our insurance manufacturers:

• risk associated with credit spread volatility and default by debt security counterparties after investing premiums to generate a return for policyholders and shareholders; and

• risk of default by reinsurance counterparties and non-reimbursement for claims made after ceding insurance risk.

The amounts outstanding at the balance sheet date in respect of these items are shown in the table on page 212.

The credit quality of the reinsurers' share of liabilities under insurance contracts is assessed as 'satisfactory' or higher (as defined on page 138), with 100% of the exposure being neither past due nor impaired (2020: 100%).

Credit risk on assets supporting unit-linked liabilities is predominantly borne by the policyholder. Therefore, our exposure is primarily related to liabilities under non-linked insurance and

investment contracts and shareholders' funds. The credit quality of insurance financial assets is included in the table on page 155.

The risk associated with credit spread volatility is to a large extent mitigated by holding debt securities to maturity, and sharing a degree of credit spread experience with policyholders.

 

Liquidity risk

(Audited)

Description and exposure

Liquidity risk is the risk that an insurance operation, though solvent, either does not have sufficient financial resources available to meet its obligations when they fall due, or can secure them only at excessive cost.

The following table shows the expected undiscounted cash flows for insurance liabilities at 31 December 2021. The liquidity risk exposure is wholly borne by the policyholder in the case of unit-linked business and is shared with the policyholder for non-linked insurance.

The profile of the expected maturity of insurance contracts at 31 December 2021 remained comparable with 2020.

The remaining contractual maturity of investment contract liabilities is included in Note 29 on page 373.

Expected maturity of insurance contract liabilities

(Audited)

Expected cash flows (undiscounted)

Within 1 year

1-5 years

5-15 years

Over 15 years

Total

$m

$m

$m

$m

$m

Unit-linked

1,346

2,605

3,159

2,293

9,403

With DPF and Other contracts

8,803

31,334

51,891

94,168

186,196

At 31 Dec 2021

10,149

33,939

55,050

96,461

195,599

Unit-linked

1,407

3,097

2,976

2,099

9,579

With DPF and Other contracts

8,427

30,156

51,383

75,839

165,805

At 31 Dec 2020

9,834

33,253

54,359

77,938

175,384

 

Insurance underwriting risk

Description and exposure

Insurance underwriting risk is the risk of loss through adverse experience, in either timing or amount, of insurance underwriting parameters (non-economic assumptions). These parameters include mortality, morbidity, longevity, lapse and expense rates.

The principal risk we face is that, over time, the cost of the contract, including claims and benefits, may exceed the total amount of premiums and investment income received.

The tables on pages 212 and 213 analyse our life insurance risk exposures by type of contract and by geographical region.

The insurance risk profile and related exposures remain largely consistent with those observed at 31 December 2020.

 

Sensitivities

(Audited)

The following table shows the sensitivity of profit and total equity to reasonably possible changes in non-economic assumptions across all our insurance manufacturing subsidiaries.

Mortality and morbidity risk is typically associated with life insurance contracts. The effect on profit of an increase in mortality or morbidity depends on the type of business being written.

Sensitivity to lapse rates depends on the type of contracts being written. For a portfolio of term assurance, an increase in lapse rates typically has a negative effect on profit due to the loss of future income on the lapsed policies. However, some contract lapses have a positive effect on profit due to the existence of policy surrender charges. We are most sensitive to a change in lapse rates on unit-linked and universal life contracts.

Expense rate risk is the exposure to a change in the allocated cost of administering insurance contracts. To the extent that increased expenses cannot be passed on to policyholders, an increase in expense rates will have a negative effect on our profits. This risk is generally greatest for our smaller entities.

 

Sensitivity analysis

(Audited)

2021

2020

$m

$m

Effect on profit after tax and total equity at 31 Dec

Effect on profit after tax and total equity at 10% increase in mortality and/or morbidity rates

(112)

(93)

Effect on profit after tax and total equity at 10% decrease in mortality and/or morbidity rates

115

98

Effect on profit after tax and total equity at 10% increase in lapse rates

(115)

(111)

Effect on profit after tax and total equity at 10% decrease in lapse rates

129

128

Effect on profit after tax and total equity at 10% increase in expense rates

(108)

(117)

Effect on profit after tax and total equity at 10% decrease in expense rates

107

115

 

 

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