HSBC wraps Vélô Toulouse

• Paris, November 16, 2007 - JCDecaux SA, (Euronext Paris: DEC), is launching Vélô Toulouse, the self-service bicycle hire scheme in Toulouse, with HSBC as its advertising partner.
• Vélô Toulouse is the first self-service bicycle hire scheme in France to include advertising displayed on the bicycles to help to finance the service. HSBC will be the first advertiser to use the bicycles as an advertising medium. Advertising for the bank will be carried on Vélô Toulouse for an initial period of one year.

• HSBC will wrap an initial 600 bicycles with advertisements covering the left- and right-hand chain guards.
• By mid December, 1,000 bicycles will display the HSBC colours.
• Part of an extension to the bank’s corporate advertising policy, the campaign is specifically designed to set HSBC apart from its competitors and to innovate through the use of original advertising media. As early as 2005, HSBC France was notable for its advertising in airports, in partnership with JCDecaux. More recently, high-speed TGV trains, trams and buses have been wrapped in HSBC colours.
• This latest initiative also corresponds to the activities pursued more generally by the HSBC Group to heighten people’s awareness of the impact of global warming and the need to adapt at an economic level.

Isabelle Schlumberger, Executive Vice-President, Commerce & Development of JCDecaux, said: “As the first French city to choose a self-service bicycle hire scheme financed, in part, by advertisements on the bicycles themselves, Toulouse has provided itself with the means to enjoy a particularly large-scale and attractive system. We are delighted to have HSBC France as an advertiser on Vélô Toulouse for this national ‘first’.”

Chantal Nedjib, Director of Communications of HSBC France also said: “This campaign follows the success of the different outdoor advertising campaigns organised by HSBC France on innovative and unexpected media that enhance the Group’s public image as an international local banking institution: in airports all over France, on buses, tramways and high-speed TGV trains in the regions.”

Yann Lebrusq, Director of the Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées Division of HSBC France, added: “HSBC France is extremely proud to be associated with this ‘first’ that reinforces our image in Toulouse among our customers as an innovative and environmentally friendly banking institution.”

• The HSBC Group:
• HSBC Holdings plc serves more than 125 million customers around the world through some 10,000 branches and offices based in 83 different countries and territories in Europe, in the Asia-Pacific region, in North and South America, in the Middle East and Africa. With assets worth US$2,150bn on June 30, 2007, HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial services groups in the world. “The world’s local bank” is the universal advertising signature adopted by HSBC.

• Alexandre Hamain
• Corporate Finance Department
• Tel.: +33 (0)1 30 79 79 93
• alexandre.hamain@jcdecaux.fr

• HSBC France
• Sophie Ricord
• Manager, Press Department
• Tel.: +33 (0) 1 40 70 33 05
• Sophie.ricord@hsbc.fr

• Coralie Houel
• Press officer
• Tel.: +33 (0) 1 40 70 35 33
• Coralie.houel@hsbc.fr