Human rights and climate crisis give HSBC an image problem

The bank, which is due to reveal its annual results this week, faces more challenges than the impact of Covid-19 on profits

HSBC's chief executive Noel Quinn has had an unenviable first year on the job. In 2020 alone, Quinn rolled out a major restructuring plan that will involve at least 35,000 job cuts, battled the financial impact of Covid in both Asia and Europe, and steered the bank through a geopolitical storm over its response to democracy clashes in Hong Kong.

Now he is set to preside over the bank's second straight year of declining annual profits.