Topic: How To Invest

Q: Hi, Can you comment on HSBC stock? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: HSBC Holdings plc (ADR), $43.51, symbol HSBC on New York (ADRs outstanding: 4.0 billion; Market cap: $175.1 billion; www.hsbc.com), is a U.K.-based bank and financial services company. HSBC has shifted its focus to Asia in recent years after cutting back its operations around the world following the global financial crisis in 2008. In the process, it cut thousands of jobs and exited almost 100 businesses. It also reduced the number of countries it operates in to 67 from 88. Even so, it still has 3,900 global offices, and 235,000 employees. With $2.5 trillion of assets, it also remains Europe’s largest bank. The bank appointed a new CEO last year. After a long career at the bank, John Flint will focus on trying to increase overall profitability and boost growth. He also needs to put the bank’s scandals behind it such as laundering money for Mexican drug cartels and circumventing U.S. sanctions on Iran, for which it was fined $1.9 billion. In mid-2018,…