Pre-Close Trading Update

HSBC Holdings PLC
27 May 2005


                  HSBC HOLDINGS PLC - PRE-CLOSE TRADING UPDATE

Following the statement given this morning by Sir John Bond, Group Chairman,
HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC), at the Annual General Meeting, HSBC will be conducting
a trading update with analysts and fund managers on 31 May 2005 ahead of its
close period for the half-year ending 30 June 2005. The meeting will take place
by conference call from 10:00 am until 11:00 am local time in London.

HSBC's results for the half-year ending 30 June 2005 will be announced on
Monday, 1 August 2005.

Conference call details
The conference call is being hosted by Douglas Flint, Group Finance Director,
and will be accessible by dialling:

UK:        [phone]
US:        [phone]
Hong Kong: [phone]

A recording of the conference call will be available for seven days on HSBC's
website by following this link http://www.hsbc.com/precloseupdate from shortly
after the live event.

Notes to editors:
1. Forward-looking statements
This presentation and subsequent discussion may contain certain forward-looking
statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and
business of the Group. These forward-looking statements represent the Group's
expectations or beliefs concerning future events and involve known and unknown
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events
to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements.
Additional detailed information concerning important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially is available in our Annual Report.

2. The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc is headquartered in the UK. The HSBC Group serves over 110
million customers worldwide from over 9,800 offices in 77 countries and
territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East
and Africa. With assets of US$1,277 billion at 31 December 2004, HSBC is one of
the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is
marketed worldwide as 'the world's local bank'.




                      This information is provided by RNS
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