Peking University. Beijing. March 24, 2009: On the morning of March 21^st, Mr. Stephen Green, President of HSBC Holding PLC, was conferred as the Honorary President of Peking University, who later delivered a speech entitled “Reflection on the Global Economic Crisis” at the Lecture Hall of PKU Library. The ceremony was attended by Mrs. Green, HSBC CEO Mr. Richard Yorke, Mr. Ding Guoliang, President of the Beijing Branch of HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited, PKU President Mr. Zhou Qifeng, Executive Vice President Mr. Lin Jianhua and Vice President Mr. Hai Wen, who also served as the chairman of the Ceremony and the speech.

President Zhou first thanked Mr. Green and HSBC Group for their enormous support to the University and made an official announcement of Mr. Stephen Green as the honorary president of PKU. According to President Zhou, HSBC and PKU have played an important role respectively in the fields of economy and education, and the University appreciates HSBC’s continuous support. He welcomed Mr. Green on behalf of the University and expressed his wish to work with HSBC to strengthen the construction of the Business School to make more contributions to education and economy.

Mr. Green received the honor conferred by President Zhou and began his speech with warm applause from the audience. He started from the operation principles of the banking system, analyzed the root of current global economic crisis, traced the changes of global economy in the past 30 years, highlighted the importance of the banking system in dealing with the crisis and expressed his confidence about the economic situation in China.

At the end of the ceremony, President Zhou presented a souvenir to Mr. Green and thanked him for the wonderful speech.

Edited by: Yan Jiefei

Translated by: LIN Jingxian