About

HSBC is a major international retail and commercial bank with its Chinese headquarters in Shanghai, and since 2007 has been one of the first locally incorporated foreign banks. However, with roots in Shanghai dating to 1865, it is no stranger to the banking market in mainland China and has become somewhat of an innovator in the industry. Its legal team is no exception. Led by Roger Yao, general counsel, it has skilfully guided the bank into new markets and activities. The in-house team consists of 26 lawyers and two administrative staff, some of the best legal minds in the business. In the last two years the team has expanded by a third to cover growth areas including digital, competition law, data privacy and labour law, as well as taking a proactive approach as an advisor to the business on legal risk. The team has supported many digital initiatives including the launch of intelligent virtual assistants – “Xiao Feng” for retails customers and “Xiao Hui” for wholesale customers. Additionally it has been the first international bank to offer WeChat corporate banking services, facial recognition services, and is currently working on distributed ledger technology and blockchain. HSBC China is well known in the industry, winning numerous awards for the quality of innovative investment products it offers. Its legal team is crucial in this regard, and is tenacious in its protection of the company. For example, it recovered more than RMB50m by obtaining a favourable judgment from the Supreme People’s Court on a complicated factoring dispute. The bank’s legal team played an important role in setting the foundation rules for the wider market and this year prepared the China Banking Association contract templates for the joint creditor meeting mechanism which will be adopted by the whole industry. Yao says, ‘We actively worked together with Chinese and UK regulators and trade association (ISDA) on the recognition of close-out netting in China; and we participated in NAFMII’s study on the limit of underwriter’s responsibilities in the China Inter-Bank Bond Market’. The team also initiated a formal regular meeting for general counsels of the most active foreign banks and hosted the first meeting in 2018.