HSBC 2009 Annual Report Download - page 8

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Cautionary statement
6
The Annual Report and Accounts 2009 contains
certain forward-looking statements with respect to
the financial condition, results of operations and
business of HSBC.
Statements that are not historical facts, including
statements about HSBC’s beliefs and expectations,
are forward-looking statements. Words such as
‘expects’, ‘anticipates’, ‘intends’, ‘plans’, ‘believes’,
‘seeks’, ‘estimates’, ‘potential’ and ‘reasonably
possible’, variations of these words and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. These statements are based on current
plans, estimates and projections, and therefore undue
reliance should not be placed on them. Forward-
looking statements speak only as of the date they are
made, and it should not be assumed that they have
been revised or updated in the light of new
information or future events.
Written and/or oral forward-looking statements
may also be made in the periodic reports to the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission,
summary financial statements to shareholders, proxy
statements, offering circulars and prospectuses, press
releases and other written materials, and in oral
statements made by HSBC’s Directors, officers or
employees to third parties, including financial
analysts.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent
risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that a
number of factors could cause actual results to differ,
in some instances materially, from those anticipated
or implied in any forward-looking statement. These
factors include, among others:
• changes in general economic conditions in the
markets in which HSBC operates, such as:
– continuing or deepening recessions and
fluctuations in employment beyond those
factored into consensus forecasts;
– changes in foreign exchange rates, in both
market exchange rates (for example,
between the US dollar and pound sterling)
and government-established exchange rates
(for example, between the Hong Kong
dollar and US dollar);
– the timing of interest rate rises in countries
which have reduced policy rates to close to
zero and more general volatility in interest
rates;
– volatility in equity markets, including in the
smaller and less liquid trading markets in
Asia and Latin America;
– lack of liquidity in wholesale funding
markets;
– illiquidity and downward price pressure in
national real estate markets, particularly
consumer-owned real estate markets;
– the ease with which central banks which
have provided liquidity support to financial
markets through quantitative easing and
extended liquidity schemes are able to
withdraw such support and the timing of
any withdrawal;
– heightened market concerns over sovereign
creditworthiness in over-indebted countries;
– the impact of lower than expected
investment returns on the funding of private
and public sector defined benefit pensions;
– the effect of unexpected changes in
actuarial assumptions on longevity which
would influence the funding of private and
public sector defined benefit pensions; and
– consumer perception as to the continuing
availability of credit, and price competition
in the market segments served by HSBC.
• changes in government policy and regulation,
including:
– the monetary, interest rate and other
policies of central banks and other
regulatory authorities, including the UK
Financial Services Authority, the Bank of
England, the Hong Kong Monetary
Authority, the US Federal Reserve, the US
Securities and Exchange Commission, the
US Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency, the European Central Bank, the
People’s Bank of China and the central
banks of other leading economies and
markets where HSBC operates;
– initiatives to change the size, scope of
activities and interconnectedness of
financial institutions following
consideration of the regulatory
consultations currently under way;
– revised capital and liquidity benchmarks
which could serve to deleverage bank
balance sheets and lower returns available
from the current business model and
portfolio mix;
– imposition of levies or taxes designed to
change business mix and risk appetite;