Currency conversion risk

• The value of your foreign currency and RMB deposits will be subject to the risk of exchange rate fluctuation. If you choose to convert your foreign currency and RMB deposits to other currencies at an exchange rate that is less favourable than the exchange rate at which you made your original conversion to that foreign currency and RMB, you may suffer a loss in the value of your principal.

Stocks Risk Disclosure

• Making available to you any advertisements, marketing or promotional materials is part of our Bank’s ordinary course of securities dealing business. It shall not, by itself, constitute solicitation of the sale or recommendation of any investment products.
• Investment involves risk. Notwithstanding the benefits of offer(s) mentioned herein, you should carefully consider the risks and features of any investment products (including but not limited to equities/exchange traded funds/exchange traded derivatives & structured products) or services mentioned herein to assess whether they are appropriate for you in view of your investment experience, objectives, financial resources and relevant circumstances. The price of investment products may move up or down. Losses may be incurred as well as profits made as a result of buying and selling investment products.

Unit Trusts Risk Disclosure

• In the worst case scenario, the value of the funds may be worth substantially less than the original amount you invested (and in an extreme case could be worth nothing).
• Funds which are invested in certain markets and companies (e.g. emerging markets, commodity markets and smaller companies etc) may also involve a higher degree of risk and are usually more sensitive to price movements.
• Credit Risk/Interest Rate Risk – a fund that invests in fixed income securities may fall in value if interest rates change, and is subject to the credit risk that issuers may not make payments on such instruments and may involve a greater degree of risk than in the case with conventional securities.
• Counterparty Risk– a fund will be exposed to credit risk on the counterparties with which it trades in relation to financial derivative instrument contracts that are not trade on a recognised exchange. Such instruments are not afforded the same protections as may apply to participants trading financial derivative instruments on organised exchanges, such as the performance guarantee of an exchange clearing house. A fund will be subject to the possibility of insolvency, bankruptcy or default of a counter party with which a fund trades such instruments, which could result in substantial loss to a fund.

Bonds and Certificates of Deposit (“CDs”) Risk Disclosure

• There are risks involved in buying bonds/CDs. Before applying for any of bonds/CDs, you should consider whether bonds/CDs is suitable for you in light of your own financial circumstances and objectives. If you are in any doubt, get independent professional advice.
• Bonds/CDs are mainly medium to long term fixed income products, not for short term speculation. You should be prepared to hold your funds in bonds/CDs for the full tenor; you could lose part or all of your principal if you choose to sell your bonds/CDs prior to maturity.
• It is the issuer to pay interest and repay principal of bonds/CDs. If the issuer defaults, the holder of bonds/CDs may not be able to receive back the interest and principal. The holder of bonds/CDs bears the credit risk of the issuer and has no recourse to HSBC unless HSBC is the issuer itself.
• Indicative price of bonds/CDs are available, and the bonds/CDs’ prices do fluctuate when market changes. Factors affecting market price of bonds/CDs include, and are not limited to, fluctuations in interest rates, credit spreads, and liquidity premiums. The fluctuation in yield generally has a greater effect on prices of longer tenor bonds/CDs. There is an inherent risk that losses may be incurred rather than profit made as a result of buying and selling bonds/CDs.
• If you wish to sell bonds/CDs, HSBC may repurchase them based on the prevailing market price under normal market circumstances, but the selling price may differ from the original buying price due to changes in market conditions.
• There may be exchange rate risks if you choose to convert payments made on the bond/CDs to your home currency.
• The secondary market for bonds/CDs may not provide significant liquidity or may trade at prices based on the prevailing market conditions and may not be in line with the expectations of bonds/CDs’ holders.
• If bonds/CDs are early redeemed, you may not be able to enjoy the same rates of return when you use the funds to purchase other products.
• Do not purchase the bonds/CDs unless you fully understand and are willing to assume the risks associated with it.

Additional risk disclosure to High yield bonds

• High yield bonds are typically rated below investment grade by a credit rating agency, or unrated. Whilst high yield bonds bear a higher yield opportunity than investment grade bonds, they present greater risks of issuer default, liquidity, volatility and non-payment of principal and interest.
• The risk of default on principal and / or interest, is greater for high yield bonds due to higher credit risk of the issuer and lower priority of claim by the bond holders in case of issuer default.
• High yield bonds can sometimes be less liquid than investment-grade bonds, depending on the issuer and the market conditions at any given time. Investors may be difficult to sell the high yield bond before maturity or at prices in line with their expectation compare to listed bond.
• High yield bonds tend to be more vulnerable to economic cycles and changes in the issuer’s financial conditions or business developments. In particular, during economic downturn, such bonds typically fall more in value than investment-grade bonds as the issuer default risk rises and investors become more risk adverse.
• Please be aware the concentration risk of investing in bonds issued by the same issuer or companies by the same group. A degrading of any of the group company's credit rating may expose the whole group to contagion risk. Please be also aware the risk of over concentrating investment in the high risk investment products.

Deposit Plus (DPS) Risk Disclosure

• DPS is a complex product and investors should exercise caution in relation to the product.
• Not a time deposit - Deposit Plus is NOT equivalent to, nor should it be treated as a substitute for, time deposit. It is NOT a protected deposit and is NOT protected by the Deposit Protection Scheme in Hong Kong.
• Derivatives risk - Deposit Plus is embedded with FX option(s). Option transactions involve risks, especially when selling an option. Although the premium received from selling an option is fixed, you may sustain a loss well in excess of such premium amount, and your loss could be substantial.
• Limited potential gain - The maximum potential gain is limited to the interest on the deposit.
• Maximum potential loss – Deposit Plus is not principal protected. You must be prepared to incur loss as a result of depreciation in the value of the currency paid (if the deposit is converted to the linked currency at maturity). Such loss may offset the interest earned on the deposit and may even result in losses in the principal amount of the deposit.
• Not the same as buying the linked currency - Investing in Deposit Plus is not the same as buying the linked currency directly.
• Market risk – The net return of Deposit Plus will depend upon the exchange rate of deposit currency against the linked currency prevailing at the deposit fixing time on the fixing date. Movements in exchange rates can be unpredictable, sudden and drastic, and affected by complex political and economic factors.
• Liquidity risk - Deposit Plus is designed to be held until maturity. You do not have a right to request early termination of this product before maturity. Under special circumstances, the Bank has the right to accept your early redemption request at its sole discretion and on a case by case basis. The Bank will provide an indication of the redemption price upon such request. Your return upon such early redemption will likely be lower than that if the deposit were held until maturity and may be negative.
• Credit risk of the Bank –Deposit Plus is not secured by any collateral. When you invest in this product, you will be relying on the Bank's creditworthiness. If the Bank becomes insolvent or defaults on its obligations under this product, you can only claim as an unsecured creditor of the Bank. In the worst case, you could suffer a total loss of your deposit amount.
• Currency risk - If the deposit currency and/or linked currency is not your home currency, and you choose to convert it back to your home currency upon maturity, you may make a gain or loss due to exchange rate fluctuations.
• Risks relating to RMB – You should note that the value of RMB against other foreign currencies fluctuates and will be affected by, amongst other things, the PRC government's control (for example, the PRC government regulates conversion between RMB and foreign currencies), which may adversely affect your return under this product. In case you receive RMB as Linked Currency at maturity and you choose to convert your maturity proceed to other currencies, you may suffer loss in principal. This product will be denominated (if Deposit Currency being RMB) and settled (when receive RMB at maturity) in RMB deliverable in Hong Kong, which is different from that of RMB deliverable in Mainland China.

Capital Protected Investment Deposit (CPI) Risk Disclosure

• CPI is a complex product and investors should exercise caution in relation to the product.
• Not a time deposit – Capital Protected Investment Deposit is NOT equivalent to, nor should it be treated as a substitute for, time deposit. It is NOT a protected deposit and is NOT protected by the Deposit Protection Scheme in Hong Kong.
• Derivatives risk – Capital Protected Investment Deposit is embedded with FX option(s). Option transactions involve risks. If the exchange rate of the currency pair performs against expectation at the fixing time on the fixing date, you can only earn the minimum payout of the structure.
• Limited potential gain - The maximum potential gain is limited to higher payout on the deposit less the principal amount, when exchange rate of currency pair at fixing moves in line with your anticipated direction.
• Not the same as buying the linked currency - Investing in Capital Protected Investment Deposit is not the same as buying the linked currency directly.
• Market risk - The return of Capital Protected Investment Deposit will depend upon the exchange rates of currency pair against trigger rate at the fixing time on the fixing date. Movements in exchange rates can be unpredictable, sudden and drastic, and affected by complex political and economic factors. You must be prepared to take the risk of earning the lower payout/no return (if exchange rate performs against expectation) on the money invested.
• Liquidity risk – Capital Protected Investment Deposit is designed to be held until maturity. You do not have a right to request early termination of this product before maturity. Under special circumstances, the Bank has the right to accept your early redemption request at its sole discretion and on a case by case basis. The Bank will provide an indication of the redemption price upon such request. Your return upon such early redemption will likely be lower than that if the deposit were held until maturity and may be negative.
• Credit risk of the Bank – Capital Protected Investment Deposit is not secured by any collateral. When you invest in this product, you will be relying on the Bank's creditworthiness. If the Bank becomes insolvent or defaults on its obligations under this product, you can only claim as an unsecured creditor of the Bank. In the worst case, you could suffer a total loss of your deposit amount.
• Currency risk - If the deposit currency is not your home currency, and you choose to convert it back to your home currency upon maturity, you may make a gain or loss due to exchange rate fluctuations.
• Risk of early termination by the Bank - The Bank shall have the discretion to uplift a Deposit or any part thereof prior to the Maturity Date (subject to the deduction of such break costs or the addition of such proportion of the return or redemption amount, which may result in a figure less than the original principal amount of the Deposit) if it determines, in its sole discretion, that this is necessary or appropriate to protect any right of the Bank to combine accounts or set-off, or any security interest, or to protect the Customer's interests.
• Risks relating to RMB - You should note that the value of RMB against other foreign currencies fluctuates and will be affected by, amongst other things, the PRC government's control (for example, the PRC government regulates conversion between RMB and foreign currencies), which may adversely affect your return under this product when you convert RMB into your home currency. The value of your RMB deposit will be subject to the risk of exchange rate fluctuation. If you choose to convert your RMB deposit to other currencies at an exchange rate that is less favourable than that in which you made your original conversion to RMB, you may suffer loss in principal. This product (if denominated in RMB) will be denominated and settled in RMB deliverable in Hong Kong, which is different from that of RMB deliverable in Mainland China.

Equity Linked Investments (”ELIs”) Risk Disclosure

• The following risks should be read together with the other risks contained in the “Risk Warnings section in the relevant offering documents of the ELIs.
• ELI is a complex product and investors should exercise caution in relation to the product.
• You should note that the information contained in this material does NOT form part of the offering documents of our ELIs. You should read all the offering documents of our ELIs (including the programme memorandum, the financial disclosure document, the relevant product booklet and the indicative term sheet and any addendum to any of such documents) before deciding whether to invest in our ELIs. If you have doubt on the content of this material, you should seek independent professional advice.
• Not a time deposit - ELI is NOT equivalent to, nor should it be treated as a substitute for, time deposit. It is NOT a protected deposit and is NOT protected by the Deposit Protection Scheme in Hong Kong.
• Not principal protected – ELIs are not principal protected: you could lose all of your investment.
• Limited potential gain – you may not receive any potential cash dividend amount - The maximum potential gain under this product is capped at an amount equal to the sum of the difference between the issue price and the nominal amount of the ELIs (if any) (less any cash settlement expenses) and the maximum periodic potential cash dividend amount(s) payable during the scheduled tenor (i.e the period from (and including) the issue date to (and including) the settlement date) of the ELIs. It is possible that you may not receive any potential cash dividend amount for the entire scheduled tenor of the ELIs.
• Re-investment risk - If our ELIs are early terminated, we will pay you the nominal amount of the ELIs (less any cash settlement expenses) and any accrued potential cash dividend amount calculated up to (and including) that call date. No further potential cash dividend amount will be payable following such early termination. Market conditions may have changed and you may not be able to enjoy the same rate of return if you re-invest these proceeds in other investments with similar risk parameters.
• No collateral – ELIs are not secured on any of our assets or any collateral.
• Limited market making arrangements are available and you may suffer a loss if you sell your ELIs before expiry - Our ELIs are designed to be held to their settlement date. Limited market making arrangements are available on a bi-weekly basis for all our ELIs. If you try to sell your ELIs before expiry, the amount you receive for each ELI may be substantially less than the issue price you paid for each ELI.
• Not the same as investing in the reference asset – Investing in our ELIs is not the same as investing in the reference asset. Changes in the market price of the reference asset may not lead to a corresponding change in the market value of, or your potential payout under, the ELIs.
• Not covered by Investor Compensation Fund – Our ELIs are not listed on any stock exchange and are not covered by the Investor Compensation Fund. There may not be any active or liquid secondary market.
• Maximum loss upon HSBC’s default or insolvency – Our ELIs constitute general, unsecured and unsubordinated contractual obligations of HSBC as issuer and of no other person (including the ultimate holding company of our group, HSBC Holdings plc). When you buy our ELIs, you will be relying on HSBC’s creditworthiness. If HSBC becomes insolvent or defaults on its obligations under the ELIs, in the worst case scenario, you could lose all of your investment.
• Risks relating to RMB - You should note that the value of RMB against other foreign currencies fluctuates and will be affected by, amongst other things, the PRC government's control (for example, the PRC government regulates conversion between RMB and foreign currencies), which may adversely affect your return under this product when you convert RMB into your home currency. The value of your RMB-denominated ELIs will be subject to the risk of exchange rate fluctuation. If you choose to convert your RMB deposit to other currencies at an exchange rate that is less favourable than that in which you made your original conversion to RMB, you may suffer loss in principal. This product (if denominated in RMB) will be denominated and settled in RMB deliverable in Hong Kong, which is different from that of RMB deliverable in Mainland China.
• You may, at settlement, receive physical delivery of reference asset(s).
• Our ELIs may be terminated early by us according to the terms as set out in offering documents of our ELIs.
• Our ELIs are structured investment products which are embedded with derivatives.
• Investment returns (if any) not denominated in home currency are exposed to exchange rate fluctuations. Rates of exchange may cause the value of investments to go up or down.
• The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited is the issuer and product arranger of our ELIs.

Renminibi (“RMB”) Related Products Risk Disclosure

• There may be exchange rate risks if you choose to convert RMB payments made on the bonds/CDs and securities to your home currency.
• RMB debt instruments are subject to interest rate fluctuations, which may adversely affect the return and performance of the RMB products.
• RMB products may suffer significant losses in liquidating the underlying investments if such investments do not have an active secondary market and their prices have large bid/ offer spreads.
• You could lose part or all of your principal if you choose to sell your RMB bonds/CDs prior to maturity.