Hsbc worked under different brand names in different countries eg: (Hong Kong Bank of Canada, British Bank of the Middle East, etc).in 1998 they were all branded together, but despite of this action the previous lack of branding and name change may hurt HSBC in brand recognition. OPPORTUNITIES: In the Middle East banks are scared of entering, however hsbc has run its business there locally and has been rewarded for its efforts with many rewards and honours. Hsbc has also taken the advantage of Iraq’s new democracy by entering the banking market there. In emerging economies hsbc is doing well and has a great chance to do better countries like China, India and Brazil. The spending power of the middle class people in these countries is increasing. Before many of them did not even have a bank account. The company’s high level of capitalisation place enables it to acquire new assets. At present banks might find trading condition difficult, so hsbc can either acquire the banks assets, technology or the whole bank itself. Hsbc has enough capital to acquire the strong bank like Bank Ekonomi in Indonesia and expand itself in ASIA. In the present economic situation hsbc has been successful in creating its image of being the safest bank for depositors and should do a press coverage showing its achievement in such situation. Negative press coverage of competitors such as HBOS may encourage customers to choose HSBC instead.>