In the previous "Heisei no Kurayashiki in Chuo-ku" (/archive / 2015/08/-in-5.html), we introduced regional banks
in Chuo-ku. This is the third time in five months since then, but this time I would like to take up the HSBC Group/Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking as a foreign financial institution operating in Chuo-ku.
From the front of Tokyo Station, walk straight along Yaesu Street and cross Showa-dori, there is the head office of the Bank of East Japan, the second regional bank, which was decided to merge with the Bank of Yokohama in April 2004. Next to the north along Showa-dori, there is a glass-walled building, and at the top it is next to a mark that combines Akachi's hexagon's hexagon with a white butterfly tie
-shaped shape, and HSBC's four characters are drawn. This is a glass-walled design similar to the headquarters of Hong Kong, and as you can see from the mark, the Tokyo base of the HSBC Group/Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking.
[HSBC Tokyo Branch Building] ⇒It is located near the intersection of Yaesu Street and Showa-dori.
HSBC is a commonly found bank in the city in Hong Kong and other Asian regions, London and Paris, but it is rarely found in Japan.
In 2012, the Premier Banking (services for the wealthy Petit Group), which had been temporarily deployed since 2008, was withdrawn along with private banking. Currently, in Japan, it is limited to commercial financial services (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking), asset management business (HSBC investment trust), and securities companies (HSBC investment trusts).
However, this bank, in fact, has a very deep connection with Japan. In general, foreign banks (investment banks and commercial banks) in Tokyo are often located around Akasaka and Marunouchi, and among the leading banks based in Chuo-ku, in addition to this HSBC, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch (@Cored Nihonbashi) is located in Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking/HSBC Group.
[Shanghai Branch of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking around 1930] ⇒Currently, it is used as the Sotonada No. 12 building of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking was founded in Hong Kong in 1865 by Scotland Thomas Satherland, but Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking first entered Japan in 1866, the year after its establishment. 150 years ago, before the Meiji Restoration, we established our first base in Yokohama, where we had already settled, and opened branches with Kobe (1869), Osaka (1872), and Nagasaki (1896). In response to the Japanese government's policy of wealthy troops since the Meiji era, JBIC loaned £250 million to support Japan's economic growth for the development of infrastructure such as railways, water supply and harbors in Japan.
Following the collapse of the Yokohama branch following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Tokyo branch was opened the following year, and after World War II, operations resumed in Tokyo and Kobe after 1947, and continued to support business between Japan and the UK, mainly in the fields of trade finance, etc., in Japan. 
[HSBC Hong Kong Headquarters Building]
The HSBC headquarters building in Hong Kong is entirely glass-covered and designed to take Feng Shui into account. Here, we also conduct retail banking such as deposits and currency exchange, so you can also visit the inside. The Tokyo branch in Nihonbashi is also a modern glass-walled building (completed in 1998) just like the Hong Kong headquarters, so it is not possible to make deposits here, so there is no chance for internal tours in general.
The former Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Nagasaki Branch is open to the public as a memorial hall and can be visited inside. This is not glass-covered, but a bank building in the Meiji era, but it's a great pleasure to visit for a tour when traveling to Nagasaki.
Former Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Nagasaki Branch Memorial Hall
[Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Tokyo Branch]
Location 3-11-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku (along Showa-dori)
＊As explained in the text, the Tokyo branch does not conduct a retail business and basically does not enter the building. In the case of a tour, let's stop watching from the outside.
