Base prospectus supplement

17 March 2011

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC

BASE PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT DATED 16 MARCH 2011

A Base Prospectus Supplement dated 16 March 2011 to the Base Prospectus of the Debt Issuance Programme issued by HSBC Holdings plc has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at http://www.hemscott.com/nsm.do.

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Note to editors:

The HSBC Group

HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from around 7,500 offices in 87 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$2,455bn at 31 December 2010, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the world's local bank'.

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