Rise from local bank to a global financial giant

Historian charts the rise of HSBC and recounts how it avoided the worst aspects of financial crisis

David Kynaston believes many underestimate just how Hong Kong has transformed itself over the past 35 years.

Back in 1980, some two-thirds of its workforce was involved in the manufacture of cheap goods - from textiles to plastic toys - and the future special administrative region was a long way from emerging as one of the world's major financial hubs.