HSBC World
Selection goes global
How a successful launch in the UK has raised eyebrows around the world...
F approach
ollowing a successful launch in
the UK, HSBC’s World Selection is
already proving attractive to investors
in several additional countries, and
even more will have the opportunity
to invest in our portfolios over the coming
months.
Over the next couple of years, depending
on the speed of gaining regulatory approvals,
investors in 25 countries will be able to invest
in a choice of World Selection Portfolios.
Following the UK introduction, they have been
launched in Canada, France, Hong Kong, Jersey
and Malta. More countries are expected to
follow in the first quarter of 2010, including
Japan, Poland, the United Arab Emirates and
several others in the Middle East.
The reasons for World Selection’s popularity
are plain to see. “The desire to have a smooth
ride for investors is welcomed in all parts of
the world, not just in the UK,” explains Simona
Paravani, Global Investment Strategist and
HSBC Global Asset Management’s leader for
the World Selection project.
“Taking diversification and specialisation
to a new level, we are delivering on the
multimanager and multi-asset concepts.
For example, the overwhelming majority of
managers working within the portfolios are
external to HSBC, which means we are being
true to the concepts on which World Selection
is founded.”
The portfolios launched in France, Hong
Kong, Jersey and Malta are registered in
Luxembourg, and there are five portfolios
in the range rather than the three available
in the UK. The Luxembourg range will be
❝ Image: OnEdition
The desire to have a smooth ride for
investors is welcomed in all parts of
the world, not just in the UK.
distributed in various other locations around the
world, whereas in countries like the USA and
Canada for example, local regulations require
that World Selection is configured especially
for their local markets. Yet the same set of
specialist investment professionals are involved
in building the portfolios at every step of the
way, making the market calls and selecting
the managers.
“These specialists,” says Paravani, “are
the product’s ‘DNA’. They remain the same
no matter where we launch. With World
Selection, we aim to bring HSBC Global Asset
Management's breadth and depth of global
resources to our clients no matter where they
are, and no matter where we launch.”
“The risk-return trade-off is important,”
Paravani continues, “because 2010 is more
uncertain in many respects than people may
think. 2009 started with a lot of pessimism
and so it was easier to surprise investors on
the upside. For 2010 there are clouds over
people’s expectations and questions marks
on the horizon.
“For example, what will happen when
monetary policy normalises? And what will
happen when governments start to withdraw
their fiscal support? These will help create
an atmosphere of uncertainty and this
spells volatility. In the presence of volatility,
diversification is particularly important; the
focus on risk will be centre stage once again.”
How fitting in this climate, then, that
diversification and spreading risk represent
two of the hallmarks of World Selection. No
doubt they will continue to be two reasons
why HSBC’s customers will remain keen to
invest in World Selection Portfolios.
❞
Impossible
dream?
How Geoff Holt, an HSBC World
Selection customer, conquered
disability and the perils of the
Atlantic Ocean to achieve his
own personal challenge…
France
G
Isabelle Lepert
HSBC Global Asset Management eoff Holt’s recent global adventure is truly inspirational.
Having sailed the Atlantic Ocean three times before as
HSBC World Selection was
launched in France in November
a teenager, you might think that there was little special
about his fourth crossing of the ‘Pond’, completed in
2009, available only to customers January this year.
of HSBC and distributed through In 1984, however, an accident had changed Geoff’s life beyond
the bank’s network of nearly 400 measure. Diving into shallow water, he broke his neck causing a
complete spinal cord injury and was left confined to a wheelchair,
branches and via the bank’s website. It may be
paralysed from the chest down. The latest 2,700-mile voyage proved
early days, but already it has attracted 70 million
Euros of investment funds in France. HSBC to be Geoff’s ‘Personal Atlantic’ challenge; and a successful one at that,
Global Asset Management’s Isabelle Lepert says as he became the first quadriplegic to sail the ocean, unassisted in
that there is currently no other multimanager every aspect of the sailing.
fund available on the French market which has
such a wide spread of global investments. She
“As a teenager, I just jumped on the boat and went, I didn’t think of
the dangers,” Geoff says. “This time round it took years of planning.
adds that although the structure of the fund I’m a husband and father, and far more aware of the dangers. But once
is slightly different from that available in the I was out there, everything was just as I remembered. When I am on
the water, it makes me feel alive and any sailor will know exactly that
UK, due to local legislative requirements, it
benefits from the same unique framework of same feeling. Returning to Cane Garden Bay, in the British Virgin Islands,
as a yachtsman was a personal challenge.
on-the-ground fund management professionals
around the world, and also draws upon the “I hope I’ve proved that disability needn’t be a barrier to your
same strategic asset allocation experience and dreams. In the first three days following my completion of the crossing,
expertise as the UK’s World Selection Portfolios. I received over 1,000 emails from people – with and without disabilities
– telling me they’ve taken inspiration from my journey and it’s helped
them make some important decisions of their own,” says Geoff.
“Why I bought into World Selection”
Geoff’s incredible achievements and outlook on life, chronicled in his
book Walking on Water, formed the basis of a series of motivational
speeches he gave to inspire HSBC employees, but the inspiration
worked both ways. Geoff became so impressed with what he heard
about the World Selection Portfolios that he decided to invest in them.
“I’d been sitting in on some of the internal presentations, and they
were very positive,” Geoff explains.
“I was particularly attracted to the global diversity aspects and the
fact that not all your eggs are in one basket. The product was also easy
to understand with three distinct levels of risk to choose from.”
More information
If you’d like to re-evaluate your investments, speak to your
Relationship Manager or HSBC financial adviser. Alternatively,
call 0800 520 420* for further information.
HSBC Bank plc is established at 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ, its registered office. In the UK, HSBC Bank plc is authorised and regulated by the
Financial Services Authority and registered in the Financial Services Authority register with the registration number 114216.
HSBC World Selection portfolios are three of the funds available within Selected Investment Funds. Information on the other funds is available on request.
The HSBC World Selection Portfolios are sub funds of HSBC OpenFunds, a UK-authorised Open Ended Investment Company (OEIC), provided by HSBC
Global Asset Management (UK) Limited. HSBC World Selection is not available in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. HSBC Trust Company (UK) Ltd is
the product provider and HM Revenue & Customs approved plan manager of the HSBC Selected Investment Funds Plan and ISA. HSBC World Selection
Personal Pension scheme is issued by HSBC Life (UK) Limited. Full details of the HSBC World Selection Personal Pension can be found in the policy
documents and terms and conditions available on request.
*Lines are open 8am until 10pm every day (excluding Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day). Textphone 18001 0800 028 0126.
To help us continue to improve our service, and in the interest of security, we may monitor and/or record your communications with us.
IN0025C AC17562 until 22 August 2010
HSBC World Selection News
The intelligent way to invest FEBRUARY 2010
Taking a scientific Managing your
attitude to risk
World Selection Portfolios are designed
to match investors’ risk appetites and
benefit from the best available performance
across a diverse range of global markets.
Why a globally diversified, multi-asset class approach Careful asset allocation is the key. The
assets that comprise the World Selection
could provide a smoother investment ride Portfolios are therefore given differing
weights. For example, at the end of
A
October 2009, UK Government bonds
£1bn
fter the investment turmoil of accounted for 49.7% of the Cautious
recent years, it’s no surprise Portfolio, 25.2% of the Balanced Portfolio
that many of our customers had funds under and 12.9% of the Dynamic Portfolio. At
told us they were looking for a management the same date, the three portfolios held
smoother ride to that which they emerging markets equities but their
might have experienced previously. proportions were 1.0%, 7.5% and 12.4%
respectively. Our guiding principle is
Global scope
One of the ways we achieve this is through
18% always to provide the smoothest ride for
investments, achieving the best possible
Dynamic
the global scope of World Selection. Diversified return for a given level of risk.
across all of the world’s geographical regions,
embracing developed and emerging markets, Striking the right balance
HSBC’s unique global footprint means we 36% World
can deliver a fantastic spread of investment Cautious
Selection
opportunities.
customers 49.7% 25.2% 12.9%
World Selection also spans a wide range
of asset classes. Our portfolios include funds 1.0% 7.5% 12.4%
which invest not only in standard assets such
as equities, bonds, sovereign debt and property
46% Cautious Balanced Dynamic
Balanced
but also commodities, hedge funds and private
Diagrams compare shift in weighting of UK
equity. Traditionally, this wealth of choice was Government bonds (red) against emerging markets
only available to institutional investors and the equities (grey), which includes Latin American and
very wealthy; through World Selection we have Asia Pacific (ex Japan) equities according to the
differing World Selection Portfolios.
made these available to all of our customers. World Selection customers in each of the three portfolios. Source: HSBC October 2009
Source: HSBC January 2010
Competitive advantage
To get the best from this approach, our World
Selection team, based throughout the world,
comprises financial engineers, experts in asset
allocation and those who select the best asset
managers in any geographical region and for
each asset class. Such scale and specialisation
gives us a real competitive advantage, enabling us
to spot opportunities on the ground, around the
clock. These features have made the HSBC World
Selection Portfolios an appealing investment
route. To date, our customers have entrusted us
with over £1 billion to invest on their behalf. This is
remarkable in just one year but we are constantly
looking towards the future. For many asset
classes, 2009 was a very positive year; the outlook
for 2010 is more uncertain. However, our focus
on aiming to give you a smooth ride with your
investments remains the same.
This is the way we intend World Selection
to continue in the future, whatever the market
conditions and wherever we look to invest
your money.
Please note, investing should be seen as a medium to long term proposition (e.g. 5 years or more). The value of investments can go
down as well as up, even with a mixed portfolio. Exchange rates can reduce as well as increase the value of overseas investments
when they are converted from one currency to another. You may not get back the full amount of your original investment.
 UK Property

A global
Guy Morrell Asia
Head of HSBC Multimanager (UK) Michelle Hilliman
and Manager of the HSBC Open Head of Research for
Global Property Fund Asia Pacific at HSBC
Multimanager
Between the end of February 2009 and
year-end, global listed property delivered an Although growth in China and India have
extremely strong performance, leading Guy

footprint
sustained world trade in 2009, their
Morrell, head of HSBC Multimanager (UK), and domestic markets have been steadily
manager of the HSBC Open Global Property expanding as well. Their local economies
Fund, to believe that it was prudent to lock in returns are becoming less dependent on exports
and reduce the holdings. to generate wealth. Meanwhile, other countries in
Meanwhile, investing directly in UK commercial the region have been prospering, too. These include
property through dedicated investment funds offered Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Australia, for
the opportunity to buy in to the market while property example. The last of these has benefited greatly from
asset values were low. Moreover, property yields (rental exporting raw materials, especially minerals, to China
income as a proportion of capital values) are currently and elsewhere in Asia.
far higher than those available from gilts and cash, while “By investing in World Selection, investors are

How HSBC has scoured the globe to make there is a good chance that property values will produce
healthy medium-term capital gains.
gaining a diverse exposure to Asia,” says Michelle
Hilliman, Head of Research for Asia Pacific at HSBC
your money work harder... Having reinvested 50% of the World Selection
property allocation into two UK funds – M&G Property
Multimanager, who is based in Hong Kong. “They are
also getting exposure to excellent managers that may
Portfolio and New Star UK Property Trust – Morrell not offer funds to retail investors. TT International is
is monitoring the investments closely. “There is a one example. The only way for individual investors to
risk that increased demand for investment property do this is through World Selection.”

D
rawing on HSBC’s worldwide
presence and deep local
knowledge, World Selection
makes best use of our unique
global reach to search out
what we believe are the best
investment opportunities and
to select managers who are best placed to
take advantage of them.
Because our global footprint spans the four
corners of the world, we are able to spot
continuous vigilance and care. A market
that performs poorly today may become
tomorrow’s star and a low-risk opportunity
can quickly turn to being too hot to handle.
Having designed a winning portfolio mix,
we are never afraid to sell and reallocate our
investors’ funds. Our aim here is to capture
the best returns from the best markets.
Our intention is to get the best for our
investors from the many and varied
investment opportunities around the world.
drives prices up too quickly. This could lead to the This combination of diverse markets and
market becoming unattractively priced as it was in highly skilled managers is designed with the aim of
2007-08. While confident that we have made the right investors benefiting from high levels of return, while
Latin decision to allocate to UK direct property funds, we are
watching market developments closely for our World
avoiding the risks that can arise from too great an
exposure to more volatile emerging markets. Long
America Selection customers.” term, Michelle believes that this should enable
World Selection to offer the best of both worlds –
Juan Veron participation in the potential high-growth markets
Regional Chief Investment of Asia and diversification.
Officer, Latin America
In 2009, Latin America surprised

❝
emerging market investors.
emerging trends and understand which stage While all eyes were on Asia,
of their cycle markets are going through. it was Latin American equities
For example, during 2009 Brazilian equities that came out tops.
have performed exceptionally well. As Mario
Felisberto, Chief Investment Officer at HSBC
Global Asset Management in São Paolo, says,
“As a whole, the fundamentals of
Latin America point to strong economic Investment monitoring around the clock
“Emerging markets were led by Latin America Having designed a growth,” explains Juan Veron, Regional Chief
Investment Officer, Latin America. “But the Introducing just some of our Global Investment Professionals network, keeping their fingers on the pulse of the world’s markets
and Brazil led Latin America.” Having a long-
standing presence in that country enabled us
winning portfolio mix, key to understanding how to achieve the best
Bogotá: -5hrs GMT Toronto: -5hrs GMT New York: -5hrs GMT São Paulo: -3hrs GMT London: GMT Dusseldorf: +1hr GMT Paris: +1hrs GMT Hong Kong: +8hrs GMT Taiwan: +8hrs GMT Shanghai: +8hrs GMT Tokyo: +9hrs GMT
investment performance is that there is a great
to seize this opportunity for our customers we are never afraid to deal of variation between the individual markets.”
during 2009.
sell and reallocate our “While Brazil has been an outperformer during

❞
2009 (which, incidentally, we see continuing),
Careful assessment
Our due diligence process identifies the
investors’ funds. Chile looks set to achieve economic growth of
just 5% in 2010. Looking further ahead, Argentina
fund managers in whichever country they looks interesting next year and in due course
are located. We carefully assess the funds Venezuela and Ecuador could eventually start
they manage and research the way in which to improve.”
they manage them, enabling us to select Spotting the opportunities and seizing them Nicolas Meleg, Lane T Prenevost, Randeep Brar, Alcindo Canto, Joanna Munro, Eckhard Weidner, Raphaël Sobotka, Michelle Hilliman, Stanley Yang, Michael Zheng, Atsuhiko Masuda,
what we believe to be the best of the bunch at the right time requires local understanding. Portfolio Manager Head of Multimanager, Head of Research, USA Head of Multimanager Global CEO, Analyst Investment Head, Head of Research, Vice President Analyst Analyst
and recruit them to work on behalf of our We believe that in order to do so we need to “HSBC Global Asset Management has a Nicolas joined HSBC in Americas Randeep joined Alcindo has 12 Multimanager Eckhard joined Europe, the Middle East Multimanager, Stanley joined HSBC Michael joined Arts has over 17 years’
investing customers. be able to understand not only the managers presence on the ground in the main Latin 2006 with the acquisition Lane was appointed HSBC Global Asset years’ experience Joanna was HSBC Global Asset and Africa (EMEA) Asia Pacific Multimanager in 2006 as HSBC Jintrust Fund experience in the
we choose and the funds they manage but American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia of the Banistmo Group Head of Multimanager, Management as in the industry, and appointed Global Management in January Raphaël was appointed Michelle is responsible fund of funds portfolio Management Company investment industry.
Allocating funds within the World Selection also the character, culture and behaviours of and Mexico,” says Veron. “We have a regional by HSBC. Prior to this Americas in 2007. He a Senior Analyst is responsible for CEO, Multimanager in 2007 as a Research Investment Head for for portfolio management manager, based in as Head of Investment He joined HSBC Global
Portfolios to particular countries and types the markets in which they operate. structure that gives support to the other countries he was responsible for joined HSBC Global in 2007. His main managing a team of September 2007. She Analyst responsible for EMEA in 2007. Prior to and research for the Taiwan. Stanley studied Advisory in 2008, where Asset Management as
of asset class would not work without this and a decision-making framework that ensures proprietary portfolio Asset Management responsibilities include analysts and all aspects joined HSBC in 2005 as Global Emerging Market this he was responsible Asia Pacific products, at the National Chung he is responsible for a Senior Investment
global view. HSBC Global Asset Management We caught up with three global experts all of our investment choices are aligned management and in 2005, responsible portfolio construction of portfolio management Global Chief Investment equity portfolios and for all aspects of and joined the HSBC Cheng University in local fund research and Manager in 2007. Arts is
has developed a framework, which enables who gave us the low-down on how they throughout Latin America to achieve the best the development of for manager research, and research coverage and research in Brazil. Officer, responsible for all research for the asset portfolio management Multimanager team Taiwan, and also has a fund of fund investment. also General Manager of
us to compare the relative merits of different feel World Selection gives customers the result for our investors.” the mortgage-backed portfolio management of US Small and Mid Alcindo is also a member investment activity within class. Eckhard holds a and research as Head in November 2007. Masters of Business Michael has nine years’ the Investment Division
opportunities from the point of view of risk opportunity to profit from expert local securities secondary and business Cap Equity asset class. of the Investment HSBC Multimanager. PhD in Mathematics, as of Multimanager for Michelle brings over Administration from the investment industry in Tokyo. Prior to joining
and reward, and also timing. This requires knowledge, wherever it may be in the world. market at Titularizadora development in Canada. Randeep has over 13 Committee and the Joanna has 23 years’ well as being a Certified Continental Europe. 10 years’ experience University of Illinois in experience and is a HSBC, he was Head
Colombiana. He has over 11 years of years’ experience in Compliance and Risk experience in the International Investment Raphael has 10 years’ in the investment Chicago, USA. member of the Global of Active Equity for
Some of this information relates to the past. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns. industry experience. the investment industry. Committee. investment industry. Analyst. experience in the management industry and Association of Risk Credit Agricole.
The value of investments can fall as well as rise. Investors could get back less than they put in. investment industry. is a CFA Charterholder. Professionals.
Additional risks apply to investments in emerging economies, such as Latin American countries.