Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, we’ve received video messages from CDF delegates who expressed their support to China.

Today’s video is from Noel Quinn，CEO of HSBC .

He said that “We will also continue to support the China Development Research Foundation and other non-profit organisations to help rural and urban communities in China to recover from the impact of the epidemic as soon as possible. The China Development Forum is a major annual event for HSBC, and I look forward to it being rescheduled very soon.”

On 24 Feb 2020, HSBC announced a new round of donation at the amount of USD 600,000 (about RMB 4.1 million) allocated from its Global Relief Fund, to provide continuous support to the battles against the COVID-19 outbreak. 

This follows the RMB 7 million joint donations by HSBC entities in mainland China at the end of January. The added funding will help our local charity partner China Social Welfare Foundation to purchase more medical supplies in-need for hospitals and social welfare organisations in the hardest-hit Hubei province.

The following is the full speech.

On behalf of all my HSBC colleagues across the world, I want to pass on our best wishes to Wuhan and China as the fight against the coronavirus continues. And particularly, to the brave doctors and nurses who are working so hard to save lives.

The disruption that this disease has caused over the past two months has touched the hearts of everyone at this bank.

For over 150 years, China has been a central part of HSBC's story. In that time, I think we've built a special relationship with the country and its people and that's why this epidemic feels particularly personal to us.

It's also why I am confident that the coronavirus will be defeated.

Time and again, the Chinese people have demonstrated their resilience and ingenuity and I have no doubt that these qualities will come to the fore again to keep the epidemic in check. We feel a deep responsibility to offer what help we can.

In mid-February, we learned that medical supplies were urgently needed in hospitals and communities. We immediately donated from the HSBC Global Relief Fund to help meet this shortage and we are mobilising our global network to source more supplies for the hospitals across Hubei and other provinces in the coming weeks.

Our businesses in mainland China had donated to hospitals and welfare homes across Hubei and other provinces through the China Social Welfare Foundation. We also fund the Foundation to support China's National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in strengthening the mechanism to contain the virus.

We will also continue to support the China Development Research Foundation and other non-profit organisations to help rural and urban communities in China to recover from the impact of the epidemic as soon as possible.

HSBC exists to serve the communities it operates in and we will always stay true to that commitment. Our teams in China are working around the clock to provide a continuous service to our clients and customers.

For example, to help small and micro businesses get through this difficult time we are increasing lending quotas and provided targeted support to specific sectors impacted by the virus.

The China Development Forum is a major annual event for HSBC, and I look forward to it being rescheduled very soon.

We expect the virus to produce a slowdown in economic activity but beyond that, prospects for growth are good. HSBC is moving more and more resources to China, and to Asia as a whole.

I look forward to another 150 years of successful business in China, and in the very short term, the speedy recovery of all those infected with the coronavirus.