The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was founded by Scotsman Thomas Sutherland in 1865 shortly after the United Kingdom established a colony in Hong Kong. Sutherland wanted to facilitate the burgeoning trade between Europe and China by offering financing to new and established businesses. The new company established a branch in Shanghai, then another in Japan before offering public loans in 1874.
HSBC, one of the world's largest and most respected banking and financial service organization, has an international network that covers approximately 10,000 offices located in 83 territories and countries all over the world. The company's slogan, "The world's local bank," underscores its presence in numerous local sites worldwide, particularly in Europe, America, the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East. The company's main headquarter is based in London.
HSBC have been represented in the UK as far back as 1865, not long after the group was consolidated, although some of its members can claim a presence going as far back as the late eighteenth century. However the HSBC group only really began to leave their footprint in the UK when the acquired the Midland Bank Group in 1992. This was a major acquisition in anyone's terms and placed the group as one of the World's leading banking organisations. Their position was further strengthened when HSBC purchased Frances's Crédit Commercial de France S.A. (now CCF S.A.) in the year 2000.
The Midland Bank, in itself has a long history within the UK banking system. It first began trading in the Midlands principal city of Birmingham in August 1836, long before most of its London based predecessors. The bank was the brainchild of a Mr. Charles Geach who had left a secure post at the Bank of England to pursue his dream of bringing banking to the Midlands. Geach enjoyed the considerable support of the city's leaders both in industry and commerce who wanted to free themselves of the clutches of the capital's bankers. The irony was that at that time Birmingham was far more financially buoyant than London, as a result of the Industrial Revolution that was going full tilt there and in the North of England.
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