HSBC Awarded BMO's CLS Mandate

Business Wire, June 18, 2004

LONDON -- HSBC has been chosen by BMO Financial Group, one of Canada's leading foreign exchange clearing banks, as settlement agent for its third-party continuous linked settlement foreign exchange trades.

HSBC will be responsible for processing - foreign exchange (FX) transactions - for BMO through the continuous linked settlement (CLS) system.

"As a global bank, FX and clearing services are core competencies for us," noted Michael Gallagher, executive vice-president and head of payments and cash management, North America, HSBC Bank USA. "We believe that our expertise, proven technological capabilities, and global reach play a large role in the success of our CLS initiative and was key to BMO's decision."

CLS, an industry initiative to reduce settlement risk caused by time differences in today's global FX market, was launched in 2002. In addition to eliminating settlement risk, CLS is designed to streamline payment processing and to give participants more efficient use of liquidity in their FX trading business.

Global Payments and Cash Management is part of HSBC Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets (CIBM). It has regional teams based in Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and the Middle East providing cash management solutions to the Group's corporate and institutional clients on a local, regional or global basis. HSBC Awarded BMO's CLS Mandate/2.

HSBC's Corporate, Investment Banking, and Markets business provides tailored financial products and services to major government, corporate, and institutional clients. Within four client-focused business lines, Corporate and Institutional Banking, Global Investment Banking, Global Markets, and Global Transaction Banking, CIBM offers a full range of capabilities including foreign exchange, fixed income, derivatives, risk advisory, debt financing and advisory, corporate financing and advisory, payments and cash management, trade services, and securities services. For more information about CIBM and its products and services visit www.cibm.hsbc.com.

The HSBC Group

HSBC Holdings plc is headquartered in the UK. The HSBC Group serves over 110 million customers worldwide from more than 9,500 offices in 79 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$1,034 billion at 31 December 2003, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the world's local bank'.