HSBC is a multinational financial institution headquartered in London that puts women’s development and equality high on its agenda. For example, HSBC Saudi Arabia employs a work force that is 14% female - three times the national average and the highest in the financial services industry in Saudi Arabia. HSBC India has collaborated with Manndeshi Udyogini Business School for Rural Women to provide financial literacy and entrepreneurship training to 83,512 women in 98 villages in rural India. The HSBC Self-Employed Women’s Association Rural Urban Development Institute trains women in rural Gujarat in product manufacturing, processing and marketing skills.

In October 2006 and 2007, HSBC France participated in the Women’s Forum which brought female executives from around the world together to discuss ways to give more responsibility to women in the work place and in society. HSBC UK similarly supports a variety of women’s initiatives. HSBC UK provides sponsorship and practical help to Aurora, Europe’s leading network for the economic advancement of corporate and entrepreneurial women, to help it deliver products and services to women’s businesses and organizations. HSBC UK also sponsors Women in Rural Enterprise (“WiRE”), an organization that has offered support to rural women in business since 1996. In addition to sponsoring outside initiatives, HSBC UK also focuses on the advancement of women in the workplace. In 2006, HSBC UK piloted a Senior Women’s Mentoring Program with 41 senior women from across the bank participating. In 2008, HSBC UK was among The Times’ “Top 50 Where Women Want to Work” in the UK.