HSBC

HSBC Holdings PLC (, , , ), is one of the largest banking groups in the world. It is headquartered in London, with its head office based in the HSBC Tower, London, a part of the Canary Wharf development in the London Docklands. Its founding member is The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, a bank established by the Scot Thomas Sutherland to finance British trade in the Far East in 1865.

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The bank is the third largest corporation in terms of assets (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=HBC&annual). It reports its numbers in US dollars as 70% of its earnings come from outside the UK. Nearly 40% of its earnings is from operations in Hong Kong. Before moving the headquarters to London in early 1990s, it was headquartered in Hong Kong. It is the largest bank in Hong Kong, and at the end of 2004 it was the third largest banking group in the world by tier 1 capital http://www.economist.com/markets/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4174345.

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The HSBC logo is derived from the Scottish flag which is the angular cross St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, was crucified upon.

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HSBC Tower, London: HSBC Tower is a skyscraper located in the Canary Wharf development in the London Docklands. The building, whose formal address is 8 Canada Square, serves as the international headquarters for HSBC Holdings PLC (the largest bank in the world by some measures)....

Canary Wharf: Canary Wharf in Tower Hamlets, London, United Kingdom, is a large business development on the Isle of Dogs, centred on the old West India Docks in the London Docklands....

London Docklands: Docklands is the semi-official name for an area in East and South East London, boroughs (Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Greenwich). The docks were formerly part of the Port of London, at one time the world's largest port. They have now been redeveloped principally for commercial and residentia...