HSBC 2015 Annual Report Download - page 480

Shareholder information (continued)
Cautionary statement / Certain defined terms / Abbreviations
HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
478
Cautionary statement
regarding forward-looking
statements
The Annual Report and Accounts 2015 contains certain
forward-looking statements with respect to HSBC’s
financial condition, results of operations, capital position
and business.
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. HSBC makes no commitment to revise or update
any forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances occurring or existing after the date of any
forward-looking statements.
Written and/or oral forward-looking statements may also
be made in the periodic reports to the US 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 include, but are not
limited to:
• changes in general economic conditions in the markets
in which we operate, such as continuing or deepening
recessions and fluctuations in employment beyond
those factored into consensus forecasts; changes in
foreign exchange rates and interest rates; volatility in
equity markets; lack of liquidity in wholesale funding
markets; illiquidity and downward price pressure in
national real estate markets; adverse changes in central
banks’ policies with respect to the provision of liquidity
support to financial markets; heightened market
concerns over sovereign creditworthiness in over-
indebted countries; adverse changes in the funding
status of public or private defined benefit pensions;
and consumer perception as to the continuing
availability of credit and price competition in the market
segments we serve;
• changes in government policy and regulation, including
the monetary, interest rate and other policies of central
banks and other regulatory authorities; initiatives to
change the size, scope of activities and interconnectedness
of financial institutions in connection with the
implementation of stricter regulation of financial
institutions in key markets worldwide; 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; the practices, pricing or responsibilities of
financial institutions serving their consumer markets;
expropriation, nationalisation, confiscation of assets
and changes in legislation relating to foreign ownership;
changes in bankruptcy legislation in the principal markets
in which we operate and the consequences thereof;
general changes in government policy that may
significantly influence investor decisions; extraordinary
government actions as a result of current market turmoil;
other unfavourable political or diplomatic developments
producing social instability or legal uncertainty which in
turn may affect demand for our products and services; the
costs, effects and outcomes of product regulatory reviews,
actions or litigation, including any additional compliance
requirements; and the effects of competition in the
markets where we operate including increased
competition from non-bank financial services companies,
including securities firms; and
• factors specific to HSBC, including discretionary RWA
growth and our success in adequately identifying the
risks we face, such as the incidence of loan losses or
delinquency, and managing those risks (through account
management, hedging and other techniques). Effective
risk management depends on, among other things, our
ability through stress testing and other techniques to
prepare for events that cannot be captured by the
statistical models it uses; and our success in addressing
operational, legal and regulatory, and litigation
challenges, notably compliance with the DPA.
Certain defined terms
Unless the context requires otherwise, ‘HSBC Holdings’
means HSBC Holdings plc and ‘HSBC’, the ‘Group’, ‘we’,
‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to HSBC Holdings together with its
subsidiaries. Within this document the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
is referred to as ‘Hong Kong’. When used in the terms
‘shareholders’ equity’ and ‘total shareholders’ equity’,
‘shareholders’ means holders of HSBC Holdings ordinary
shares and those preference shares and capital securities
issued by HSBC Holdings classified as equity. The
abbreviations ‘$m’ and ‘$bn’ represent millions and
billions (thousands of millions) of US dollars, respectively.