Credit and rates

HSBC is a long-established market maker and underwriter in the international bond markets. It underwrites and trades sovereign, supranational, agency, financial institution and corporate fixed and floating rate bonds, with particular strengths in sterling, the Hong Kong dollar, and the US dollar plus the Euro markets. We also offer structured debt capital market finance for project- and asset-based financing and provide advisory services in the area of risk management. This is to assist clients in protecting them against interest rate and currency fluctuation through the use of derivative products.

By many standards, HSBC is the most active market maker in Asia, providing liquidity in a wide range of securities and currencies. HSBC is one of an exclusive group which trades all 15 active Asian domestic local currency debt markets as well as Asian credits denominated in G7 currencies.

In the UK, HSBC has been a leading gilt-edged market maker for many years. HSBC provides complete gilt product coverage, which extends from the conventional wholesale market activities to STRIPS and index-linked trading, and the retail odd-lot market. HSBC is also active in bond option and repo markets. HSBC France is the Group's trading platform for all Euro-denominated, liquid fixed income products.

Supported by a regional network of offices, HSBC's hub dealing rooms in London, New York and Hong Kong link up for 24-hour trading and sales coverage. Underwriting and derivatives trading expertise complement dedicated bond trading teams.

HSBC maintains two bond indices. The HSBC Asian Local Bond Index (ALBI) tracks the total return performance of liquid bonds, denominated in local currencies, in Hong Kong, China, India, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia. The HSBC Asian US Dollar Bond Index (ADBI) tracks the total-return performance of a non-Japan Asian bond portfolio consisting of US dollar-denominated, fixed-rate, straight bonds satisfying a set of simple issue size and liquidity criteria.

HSBC, in collaboration with the Nasdaq Dubai, maintains the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai family of indices. The HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai indices track the performance of portfolios comprising global sukuk, Middle Eastern bonds and AED-denominated issues providing investors with useful benchmarks, using daily HSBC bid price at Middle East close.