U.S. Stock Trading

By confirming that you are Non-U.S. person, you are NOT:

a. A citizen* or resident of the United States,

b. A partnership created or organized in the United States or under the law of the United States or of any State, or the District of Columbia,

c. A corporation created or organized in the United States or under the law of the United States or of any State, or the District of Columbia,

d. Any estate or trust other than a foreign estate or foreign trust. (See Internal Revenue Code section 7701(a) (31) for the definition of a foreign estate and a foreign trust.),

e. A person that meets the substantial presence test, or

f. Any other person that is not a foreign person.

* An individual born in the United States, or an individual whose parent is a U.S. citizen, or a former alien who has been naturalized as a U.S. citizen, or an individual born in Puerto Rico, or an individual born in Guam, or an individual born in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Please seek your own independent professional advice to confirm your U.S. / Non-U.S. status.

The W-8 form is a requirement of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") for U.S. tax reporting for non-U.S. persons. Non-U.S. persons are subject to U.S. withholding on certain types of income received from U.S. sources, such as interest and dividends.

Non-U.S. persons are required to complete and submit a duly completed W-8 Form for the following main reasons:

• to establish that you are not a U.S. person; and
• to claim that you are the beneficiary of the US-sourced income for which the W form is provided; and
• to claim, if applicable, a reduced rate of, or exemption from, withholding tax by being a resident of a foreign country/region with which the United States has an income tax treaty.

If you would like to know more about the instructions for W form and tax treaties, please visit HSBC FATCA page, U.S. IRS website or consult your tax adviser.

• Instructions for W form
• Tax Treaties Information

In general, W-8 form is valid for a period of 3 years provided that there is no change to your information or Non-U.S. person status. For details, please visit U.S. IRS website or consult your tax adviser.

Duly complete a new W form and submit it via Business Internet Banking.

The NYSE Market Data relates to provision of market data by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). As required by NYSE, every HSBC customer must sign this agreement to confirm that he/she is a market data subscriber before obtaining access to the NYSE's market data.

In respect of orders for securities listed on stock exchanges outside of Hong Kong, it is our existing practices that the Bank may transmit your orders to affiliated HSBC entities and third party brokers for execution, who may, subject to local regulation, execute such orders on alternative trading venues ("ATVs"), including dark pools.

The primary potential benefits for using ATVs is to achieve better pricing and to reduce transaction costs. In general, ATVs and ATV operators are subject to regulations which are not necessarily the same as regulations that are applicable to exchanges and exchange operators. A typical feature of ATVs is that there is no pre-trade transparency. The reference prices on an ATV could be "stale" or out-of-date due to latency from data feeds. Separately, access to ATVs is usually restricted and there could be less supply and/or demand on an ATV (as compared to the supply and/or demand on an exchange) due to the limited number of participants.

Our affiliated HSBC entities and third party brokers generally consider the execution price and opportunities for price improvement when deciding the appropriate venue for executing orders. There may also be other factors in their consideration, for example (i) market depth and order size; (ii) the trading characteristics of the security; (iii) speed and accuracy of executions; (iv) the availability of efficient and reliable order handling systems; (v) liquidity and automatic execution guarantees; (vi) service levels; (vii) the cost of executing orders; and (viii) execution certainty. The Bank will continue to monitor and evaluate the execution practices of our affiliated HSBC entities and third party brokers.

Customers cannot choose to opt out ATVs but please rest assure that execution in ATVs would have been reviewed and have adopted the applicable local regulatory requirements. The Bank will continue to monitor and evaluate the execution practices of our affiliated HSBC entities and third-party brokers.