For more than 150 years we have connected customers to opportunities. We enable businesses to thrive and economies to prosper, helping people to realise their ambitions. Today, we serve more than 40 million personal, wealth and corporate customers worldwide in 64 countries and territories.The experiences of the past century and a half have formed the character of HSBC. A glance at our history explains why we believe in capital strength, in strict cost control and in building long-term relationships with customers.