HSBC shifts focus from west to east as profits dive

HSBC has also been severely criticised by British MPs and US politicians for closing the accounts of pro-democracy activists.Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, has praised the bank in recent weeks, saying she would “love” for HSBC to expand in the city. Founded in 1865 as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., HSBC moved its base to London in 1993 after buying Midland Bank in the run-up to the colony’s 1997 return to China.