HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational investment bank and financial services holding company. It is the second-largest bank in Europe, with total assets of US$2.984 trillion (as of December 2020). HSBC traces its origin to a hong in British Hong Kong and its present form was established in London by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to act as a new group holding company in 1991; its name derives from that company’s initials. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation opened branches in Shanghai in 1865 and was first formally incorporated in 1866