Interests in associates and joint ventures - Principal associates of HSBC (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Jun. 30, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Bank of Communications Co., Limited
Disclosure of associates [line items]
Carrying amount	$ 19,630	$ 18,982
Fair value	8,718	10,054
The Saudi British Bank
Disclosure of associates [line items]
Carrying amount	4,139	4,370
Fair value	$ 3,644	$ 5,550

Line items represent concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes of the table.

No definition available.

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- Definition

The fair value of investments in associates if there are quoted market prices for the investment. [Refer: Associates [member]; Investments in associates]

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IFRS
-Number 12
-IssueDate 2019-01-01
-Paragraph 21
-Subparagraph b
-Clause iii
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IFRS&num=12&code=ifrs-tx-2019-en-r&anchor=para_21_b_iii&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2019-03-27

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- Definition

The amount of investments in associates in an entity's separate financial statements. [Refer: Associates [member]]

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IAS
-Number 27
-IssueDate 2019-01-01
-Paragraph 10
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