Pros
Good name - particularly in Hong Kong where HSBC & Hang Seng blows closest competitors (e.g. BOC) away Risk-averse - the company is very hung up on containing risks in the last few years. This is good both for staff and shareholder.
Kontras
For the staff - too much instability since Stuart Gulliver assumes leadership. Too many businesses have been labelled non-core & sold to add to one-off income gains, creating considerable instability throughout all ranks in the bank. Pay - market rate but never a market leader. Paperwork & Bureaucracy - simply too much. Particularly all the CEOs in the line businesses globally have ceded considerable control to the Head Office since 2011, due to a massive shift in reporting structures where all line staff will report direct to their functional bosses in the head office, and only dotted to the business.