ShareMatch A participant s guide to HSBC s International Employee Share Purchase Plan. ShareMatch HSBC s International Employee Share Purchase Plan ShareMatch October 206 Page
Logging in to your Computershare Account You are able to log in to your Computershare Account by following the instructions set out opposite. You will need to log in to your Plan Account in order to view or transact over any shares held in your ShareMatch Plan Account. * If you wish to transact you will need to know your Computershare PIN. If you don t know it you will need to sign in directly to www.hsbc.com/ employeeshareplans and use the forgotten PIN functionality on the sign in page. You are also able to reset your PIN on the submit transaction page, however you will need to re-enter your transaction details. YES From your HSBC workstation log on via HSBC NOW > Tools - Human Resources > HR Direct > HR Tools > Performance and Reward > Computershare I wish to use single sign on (SSO) YES You should now be able to sign in YES Log in to www.hsbc.com/ employeeshareplans Do you know your PIN? NO Do you know your computershare account number (C REF OR SRN)? NO Use the forgotten PIN functionality on the sign in page NO Find on previous CS correspondence or email HSBCSharematch@computershare.co.uk ShareMatch October 206 Page 2
Viewing your ShareMatch Plan Account Your portfolio The Portfolio screen within My Holdings is the home page for all of your HSBC Share Plans. The balance on your ShareMatch GBP account is the total of your Investment Shares, Unrestricted Shares and conditional awards of Matching Shares. You can click on SHAREMATCH GBP to get more details of your holdings. Across the top of the SHAREMATCH GBP screen you can access the following screens: Holding Information which provides a comprehensive overview of the shares which you hold in your ShareMatch Plan Account. Dividend History which shows all the dividends paid on your Investment Shares and Unrestricted Shares which have been reinvested in further shares on your behalf. Contributions which shows the contributions you have made into ShareMatch. Transaction history which shows all transactions that have taken place on your ShareMatch Plan Account. Correspondence which holds the employee share plan correspondence that has been sent to you including that relating to ShareMatch. Should you have any questions please contact Computershare: see the Key dates and contacts tab of this brochure. ShareMatch October 206 Page 3
Suspending and restarting your contributions ( of 2) You can suspend your contributions at any time, however you cannot change the amount of your contributions during a Plan Year. If you give instructions on Computershare s website to suspend your contributions by the 5 th of the current month 2 then your contributions will stop from the next month. If you are in possession of Inside Information on HSBC Holdings plc you should not change, suspend or restart your contributions to ShareMatch. If you are in doubt contact the Global Control Room at global.controlroom@hsbc.com. If you are a PDMR you should act in accordance with the guidance issued by Group/your local Company Secretary. You should contact Group/your local Company Secretary in the event of any queries. Example If you want to stop your contributions from February you must give instructions on the Computershare website by 5 th January 2. If you suspend your contributions after this date in January, your contributions will not stop until March. How do I suspend my contributions? From the Portfolio screen in My Holdings click on SHAREMATCH GBP. Click on Contributions along the top of the page. The Payment information box displays your monthly contributions. Click on the Suspend button. To confirm you wish to suspend your contributions you must enter your PIN and click on Submit. You will now be taken to the confirmation screen. If you are not taken to the confirmation screen or are unclear if your contributions have been suspended please contact Computershare on the email address provided in the Key dates and contacts tab of this brochure. Computershare will advise your payroll to stop deducting your contributions. Plan Year : The Plan Year starts on October and ends on 30 September the following year. 2 Before 5.30pm UK time on the 5th of the month (if the 5th is a non UK business day this will be the last business day prior to the 5th). ShareMatch October 206 Page 4
Suspending and restarting your contributions (2 of 2) You can restart your contributions at any time. To restart your contributions in the next month, you must give your instruction on the Computershare website by the 5 th of the current month. If you are in possession of Inside Information on HSBC Holdings plc you should not change, suspend or restart your contributions to ShareMatch. If you are in doubt contact the Global Control Room at global.controlroom@ hsbc.com. If you are a PDMR you should act in accordance with the guidance issued by Group/your local Company Secretary. You should contact Group/your local Company Secretary in the event of any queries. Example If you have previously stopped your contributions and want to restart your contributions from March you must give instructions on the Computershare website by 5 th February. If you restart your contributions after this date in February, your contributions will not start until April. How do I restart my contributions? From the Portfolio screen in My Holdings click on SHAREMATCH GBP. Click on Contributions along the top of the page. The Payment information box will display your monthly contributions. Click on the Restart button. To confirm you wish to restart your contributions you must enter your PIN and click on Submit. You will now be taken to the confirmation screen. If you are not taken to the confirmation screen or are unclear if your contributions have been restarted, please contact Computershare on the email address provided in the Key dates and contacts tab of this brochure. Computershare will advise your payroll to restart your contributions. Before 5.30pm UK time on the 5th of the month (if the 5th is a non UK business day this will be the last business day prior to the 5th). ShareMatch October 206 Page 5
Selling or transferring your shares ( of 2) There are two types of shares that you can sell or transfer from your ShareMatch Plan Account. These are your: Investment Shares; and Unrestricted Shares Subject to any applicable Dealing Rules, you can sell your shares by placing a Market Order. Instructions on how to place a Market Order can be found in the screens that follow. Investment Shares Your monthly contributions are used to purchase shares on a quarterly basis. These shares are called Investment Shares and are subject to a Holding Period. The Holding Period ends three years after the start of the Plan Year. For example, the Holding Period for shares purchased in the 206 Plan Year (in January, April, July and October 207) ends on October 209. Subject to any applicable Dealing Rules, you can sell your Investment Shares or transfer them out of your Plan Account at any time. However if you sell or transfer your Investment Shares before the end of the Holding Period you will forfeit the conditional awards of Matching Shares 2 you were granted in respect of these shares. Once the Holding Period ends the Investment Shares and associated Matching Shares will become Unrestricted Shares in your Plan Account. Unrestricted Shares Subject to any applicable Dealing Rules, you can sell your Unrestricted Shares or transfer them out of your Plan Account at any time. You will not forfeit any conditional awards of Matching Shares by selling or transferring your Unrestricted Shares. Your Unrestricted Shares consist of: Investment Shares which have been held for longer than the Holding Period; Matching Shares which have been released to you at the end of the Holding Period; and Dividend Shares. If you are a PDMR or a Covered Worker you must obtain clearance to deal prior to selling your shares. 2 Matching Shares :You receive one Matching Share for every three Investment Shares that are in your Plan Account at the end of the Holding Period. ShareMatch October 206 Page 6
Selling or transferring your shares (2 of 2) Transaction charges Transferring your shares out of your Plan Account You can instruct Computershare to transfer your shares to your brokerage or nominee account or to you by share certificate. There are no charges for these transfers. Selling your shares For each sale of shares, you will be charged a flat rate dealing fee of GBP 7.50, a wire fee of GBP 5.00 and, in addition, a flat rate PTM Levy of GBP.00 on sales of GBP 0,000.00 or more. This will be deducted from the final sale proceeds. If your sale proceeds are less than the costs of the transaction you will not be able to sell the shares. Dealing rules The purchase of Investment Shares with your contributions, receipt of Dividend Shares and grant of conditional awards of Matching Shares will not constitute dealings under the HSBC Global Personal Account Dealing Policy ( the PAD Policy ). However, under the PAD Policy, the sale of your Investment, Dividend and/or Matching Shares is dealing. In accordance with the PAD Policy, if you are a Covered Worker you must seek clearance via the Global Personal Account Dealing system ( GPAD system ) or local equivalent. If you are a PDMR you must seek clearance from Group or your Local Company Secretary. If you are in possession of inside information on HSBC, you must not deal. If in doubt please speak to your local Compliance team. These transaction charges are valid at the date of this brochure and are subject to change from time to time. Please check the Computershare website for information on transaction charges. 2 A wire fee does not apply to BACS payments to UK bank accounts. ShareMatch October 206 Page 7
Selling your shares by Market Order Before selling your shares you must first read the important information here> What is a Market Order? If you place a Market Order to sell your shares this means that your shares will be sold at the trading price at the point your instruction is executed. If you place your instruction when the market (London Stock Exchange) is closed, then your shares will be sold as soon as possible after the market next opens. How do I place a Market Order to sell my shares? From the Portfolio screen in My Holdings click on the Transact button next to SHAREMATCH GBP. You will be transferred to a new screen which will give you the option to Sell or Transfer. Click on Sell. On the next screen you are asked to confirm you have read, understood and accept the Terms and Conditions of the online share facility. Any instruction to sell constitutes dealing under HSBC s Code for Transacting in Group Securities ( the Code ) and the HSBC Global Personal Account Dealing Policy ( the PAD Policy ). If you are a Covered Worker subject to the PAD Policy or PDMR subject to the Code you must seek clearance to deal if you wish to transact in any HSBC Securities. If you would like to check if you are a Covered Worker or require any prior approval under the PAD Policy, please refer to Section 3. of the PAD policy and any relevant country addendum. PDMR s must contact Group or their Local Company Secretary before taking any action. If you have access to Inside information you are not permitted to sell or deal in HSBC Group securities. You should then choose whether to sell: all Unrestricted Shares; all Available Shares ; or a specific number of shares (this must be a whole number) Select the country where your bank account is held from the drop down menu and click Next. You will then be asked to enter and confirm your bank account details. The next screen will display an estimate of the Net proceeds of your transaction. To continue with the transaction enter your PIN and click Submit. You will be taken to the confirmation screen where you will be provided with a confirmation number. You should note this for your records. You will also receive an email from Computershare to confirm your instruction has been received. If you do not receive an email confirmation from Computershare please send an email to HSBCShareMatch@ computershare.co.uk Once your sale of shares has been processed, Computershare will issue you with a Contract Note, which will be uploaded to the Correspondence section of your Computershare Account. You can only cancel a Market Order if this was submitted when the market (London Stock Exchange) was closed and the market has not yet re-opened. Your Available Shares are your Unrestricted Shares and any Investment Shares where the Holding Period has not ended. If you sell more shares than your Unrestricted Share balance you will forfeit the conditional awards of Matching Shares granted in respect of the Investment Shares that are sold. A warning message will display on screen. ShareMatch October 206 Page 8
Cancelling a sale transaction How do I cancel a sale instruction? From the Portfolio screen in My Holdings click on SHAREMATCH GBP. Click on Transaction History along the top of the page. To cancel a pending sale transaction click on Cancel. You will then be taken to a screen which will confirm that your Market Order has been cancelled. ShareMatch October 206 Page 9
Transferring your shares Before transferring your shares you must first read the important information here> How do I transfer my shares out of the Plan? From the Portfolio screen in My Holdings click on the Transact button next to SHAREMATCH GBP. You will be transferred to a new screen which will give you the option to Sell or Transfer. Click on Transfer. You then have to choose whether to transfer: a specific number of shares (this must be a whole number) or all Available Shares Select whether you wish to transfer your shares to your brokerage or nominee account or be sent a share certificate and click Next. If your instruction means that you will forfeit some of your conditional awards of Matching Shares a warning message will show how many Matching Shares you will forfeit if you proceed with the transaction. At the bottom of the screen you are asked to confirm you have read, understood and accepted the Terms and Conditions of the online share dealing facility. If this is correct, click on Next. To confirm the transfer enter your PIN and click on Next. You will be taken to the confirmation screen where you will be provided with your confirmation number. You should note this for your records. Your Available Shares are your Unrestricted Shares and any Investment Shares where the Holding Period has not ended. If you transfer more shares than your Unrestricted Share balance you will forfeit the conditional awards of Matching Shares granted in respect of the Investment Shares that are sold. A warning message will display on screen. ShareMatch October 206 Page 0
Transferring roles within the HSBC group Investment and Matching Shares Any Investment Shares purchased or conditional awards of Matching Shares awarded prior to your move date will not be impacted if you transfer within the HSBC Group. These will remain subject to the Holding Period and the rules of the Plan. Continuing your contributions in your new location For the 206 Plan Year (which ends in September 207), ShareMatch is operated in the jurisdictions in the table opposite. As such, you can only continue to make contributions in the 206 Plan Year if you transfer to work in one of these countries or the UK. This will include short term assignments and secondments to one of these countries or the UK. If you move to a country which is a participating country in the 207 or subsequent Plan Years you will receive an invitation to join the Plan in the September of that year. HSBC will notify Computershare once you have moved country. Computershare will then notify the new payroll team to continue the deductions if you have moved to a participating ShareMatch country. You do not need to take any action, however if your contributions do not continue in your new location, please contact your local payroll team. Please note: As a result of payroll cut-off dates it may not always be possible for you to make a monthly contribution in the month of transfer. Participating Countries Australia Bermuda Canada Egypt Guernsey Hong Kong India Indonesia Ireland Isle of Man Jersey Luxembourg Macau Malaysia Malta Mauritius Mexico New Zealand Oman Singapore South Korea Switzerland Taiwan Thailand UAE USA ShareMatch October 206 Page
Leaving HSBC - good leavers ( of 4) What is a good leaver? For ShareMatch, a good leaver includes leaving HSBC as a result of retirement, redundancy, injury, disability or the sale of your employing company or business out of the HSBC Group. Action required: It is essential that your correct email and postal addresses are stored in the My Profile section of your Plan Account on the Computershare website so that Computershare can contact you regarding your shares. These details are not updated by HSBC after you leave HSBC. Contributions Once you have left HSBC you will no longer be able to make contributions to ShareMatch. Any contributions that you have made in the current quarter which have not been used to purchase Investment Shares will be returned to your local payroll. You will receive a confirmation email from Computershare. If you have not received these funds in your bank account within 0 working days of receiving the above email you should contact payroll. Investment and Matching Shares Your Investment Shares and conditional awards of Matching Shares (net of any shares sold to cover HSBC s tax withholding where applicable) will become Unrestricted Shares in your Plan Account at the earliest available opportunity following the cessation of your employment with HSBC. In the normal course of events it is anticipated that this will take place within 30 days of your exit. When will I know my Investment and Matching Shares are Unrestricted? Computershare will send you an email when your Investment and Matching Shares have become Unrestricted Shares. This will direct you to read the Leaver Instructions that will have been posted to the Correspondence section of your Plan Account. You should read these Leaver Instructions before selling or transferring any shares. WARNING: If you sell or transfer your Investment Shares before they become Unrestricted Shares you will forfeit the associated Matching Shares. If you leave HSBC close to a purchase date, it may not be possible to prevent your current quarter s contributions from being used to purchase Investment Shares. ShareMatch October 206 Page 2
Leaving HSBC - good leavers (2 of 4) Leaver Instructions The Leaver Instructions set out that you have a period of 90 days to sell or transfer all your shares out of your ShareMatch Plan Account. If you wish to transfer your shares out of your Account (whether to a brokerage or nominee account or by issue of a share certificate) you will need to agree to donate the proceeds of any fractional share to HSBC s nominated charity. This is because it is not possible to transfer a fraction of a share. If you have taken no action to sell or transfer your shares by the end of this 90 day period you will automatically be issued a share certificate which will be sent to your mailing address, as recorded on your Computershare account. This is why it is essential that you check that your contact details are up to date in the My Profile section of your Plan Account. Tax In most countries, you will be liable to income tax (and social security where applicable) when your conditional awards of Matching Shares become Unrestricted Shares following the cessation of your employment. Where there is an HSBC withholding obligation, shares will be sold to cover the estimated taxes due. In some countries you may be subject to tax on the sale of your shares (capital gains) and/or on any dividends you receive. It is your responsibility to take such actions as may be appropriate in respect of your personal tax return. The nominated charity is SOS Children s Villages. ShareMatch October 206 Page 3
Leaving HSBC - other leavers (3 of 4) Who are other leavers? This covers anyone who leaves HSBC for a reason other than retirement, redundancy, injury, disability or the sale of your employing company or business out of the HSBC Group. Action required: It is essential that your correct email and postal addresses are stored in the My Profile section of your Plan Account on the Computershare website so that Computershare can contact you regarding your shares. These details are not updated by HSBC after you leave HSBC. Contributions Once you have left HBSC you will no longer be able to make contributions into ShareMatch. Any contributions that you have made in the current quarter which have not been used to purchase Investment Shares will be returned to your local payroll. You will receive a confirmation email from Computershare. If you have not received these funds in your bank account within 0 working days of receiving the above email you should contact payroll. Matching Shares Any conditional awards of Matching Shares will be forfeited. You will receive an email from Computershare which will direct you to read the Leaver Instructions that will have been posted to the Correspondence section of your Plan Account. If you leave HSBC close to the purchase date, it may not be possible to prevent your current quarter s contributions from being used to purchase Investment Shares. ShareMatch October 206 Page 4
Leaving HSBC - other leavers (4 of 4) Leaver Instructions The Leaver Instructions set out that you have a period of 90 days to sell or transfer all your shares out of your Plan Account. If you wish to transfer your shares out of your Plan Account (whether to a brokerage or nominee account or by issue of a share certificate) you will need to agree to donate the proceeds of any fractional share to HSBC s nominated charity. This is because it is not possible to transfer a fraction of a share. If you have taken no action to sell or transfer your shares by the end of this 90 day period you will automatically be issued a share certificate which will be sent to your mailing address, as recorded on your Computershare account. This is why it is essential that you check that your details are up to date in the My Profile section of your Plan Account. Tax In some countries you may be subject to tax on the sale of your shares (capital gains) and/or on any dividends you receive. It is your responsibility to take such actions as may be appropriate in respect of your personal tax return. The nominated charity is SOS Children s Villages. ShareMatch October 206 Page 5
Key dates and contacts Key dates Plan Year starts October 206 First contribution October 206 Final contribution September 207 Plan Year ends 30 September 207 Holding period ends October 209 Contact information Email: HSBCShareMatch@computershare.co.uk Online: Access your account via Single Sign On (see the Computershare Account tab) or direct at: www.hsbc.com/employeeshareplans Computershare Helpline: +44 370 703 06 Support is available Monday to Friday 8am to 0.30pm UK time (excluding UK public holidays) Further information If there is anything about the Plan that you do not understand, please contact the Computershare Helpline. This guide does not constitute financial advice. ShareMatch October 206 Page 6