CCF Strategic Plan

HSBC Holdings PLC
13 January 2005


The following is a translation of a press release issued by CCF in France:

                     CCF to adopt the HSBC brand in France
         as it plans to improve customer service and accelerate growth

Following CCF's board meeting on 12 January, the management of the bank today
presented a new strategic plan to the bank's Works Council and employees in
France.

In an increasingly competitive environment, CCF aims to accelerate growth in its
key customer groups and to become a benchmark institution for quality of advice
and service. The aim is to increase CCF Group revenues by around 45% between
2003 and 2008^.

The following actions will be taken to achieve these targets:

   •Rolling out the HSBC Group brand to the entire CCF, UBP, Banque de
    Picardie branch networks and Banque Hervet branches in the Paris region.

   •Opening about 150 new branches across all networks and recruiting almost
    1,000 new commercial banking staff to strengthen CCF's commercial capability
    and its service offerings for core customer groups.

   •Strengthening services for business and personal customers and enhancing
    online services by taking further advantage of the HSBC Group's technology.

   •Extending customer access to the HSBC Group's global network (across
    10,000 offices in 76 countries and territories) to further meet their
    international needs - an initiative for business clients and for personal
    customers who can benefit from services like the HSBC International Premier
    package.

   •Using the experience acquired by CCF to become the HSBC Group's European
    or global platform for a series of financial products where France has
    first-class expertise. These products include structured interest-rate and
    structured equity derivatives, and quantitative investment services.

   •Maximising efficiency by tailoring operations around customer group and
    adopting the most effective information systems developed by the HSBC Group
    as part of its global policy. The resulting restructuring in some activities
    will be limited to the strictly necessary and there will be no forced
    redundancies.

Revenue growth and increased efficiency will lead to a yearly average 1.5-2%
reduction in the cost:income ratio between 2003 and 2008^.

Charles-Henri Filippi, Chief Executive Officer of CCF, said: "We want our
customers to enjoy the full benefits of HSBC's comprehensive service offering
and international scale. The HSBC Group's geographical reach, financial strength
and global technology resources are huge assets which, combined with our own
acknowledged expertise in relationship retail banking in France, will enable us
to offer our customers a better service and convince many more to join us.

"This strategic plan builds on CCF's values and past successes. But it is also a
major project that will involve change for all of us. It will be accompanied by
an ambitious human resources policy designed not only to strengthen our
performance and quality but also to provide our people with career opportunities
and personal fulfilment at all levels."

Implementation of these projects is subject to the various consultations
required by law, notably with staff representative bodies.



(1) The figures are UK GAAP figures excluding goodwill amortisation for the
operating activities of HSBC in France (including the HSBC Paris branch); the
impact of IFRS has not been included at this stage.

Forward-looking statements
This presentation may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to
the financial condition, results of operations and business of the HSBC Group.
These forward-looking statements represent the HSBC 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.

This announcement should not be interpreted to mean that the HSBC Group's
profits will necessarily match or be greater than its historical published
profits.

Notes to editors:

The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc, the holding company for the HSBC Group, is headquartered in
the UK. The HSBC Group serves over 110 million customers worldwide from
approximately 10,000 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the
Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of
US$1,154 billion at 30 June 2004, the HSBC Group is one of the world's largest
banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the
world's local bank'.
                                      ends




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