HSBC Assessment Tests

HSBC Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a service assistant in a busy HSBC branch. Five people are queuing for the counter, where one colleague is serving. A man near the back is waiting to open a savings account with the only adviser, who is with somebody else for the next hour. From the papers in his hand you can see he has brought a payslip rather than the proof of address the account needs, so he will be turned away unless he fetches one. Nobody else has noticed. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Take the man aside yourself and work through the whole account-opening conversation with him, leaving the one colleague on the counter to clear the queue of five alone.
   2. Serve the counter queue in order and leave the adviser to raise the missing document when the man's turn finally comes, without mentioning it to him now.
   3. Ask the adviser to break off her current appointment and see the waiting man next, so that the missing document comes to light sooner than it otherwise would.
   4. Tell the man now which document he is missing so he can fetch it while he waits, then go straight back to helping with the counter queue.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell the man now which document he is missing so he can fetch it while he waits, then go straight back to helping with the counter queue.

   Least effective: B. Serve the counter queue in order and leave the adviser to raise the missing document when the man's turn finally comes, without mentioning it to him now.

   A: Abandons own committed work: it hands the whole counter queue to a single colleague for an hour, to do a job the adviser is sitting there to do.

   B: Withholds what the man needs to act: he could fetch the document during the hour he is already waiting, and you are the only person who knows he has to.

   C: Substitutes own judgement for the stakeholder's: it interrupts a customer who is mid-appointment to solve a problem that one sentence at the back of the room would solve.

   The most effective response is telling the man now which document he is missing so he can fetch it while he waits. The hour he is already going to spend in the branch is the only window in which the problem can be solved, and using it costs you one sentence. It beats taking the man aside and working through the whole account-opening conversation yourself, because the counter queue then falls on one colleague for an hour to do work the adviser is there for. It beats asking the adviser to break off her current appointment, because that spends another customer’s time on something a sentence would fix. The least effective response is serving the counter queue in order and leaving the adviser to raise the missing document when his turn comes: the man is sitting there able to act, the only person who knows says nothing, and the hour is wasted before he is turned away. The principle: when a very short act unblocks somebody else’s time, it goes first, and information they can still act on is worth more early than complete. This is what HSBC’s ‘We get it done’ points to: the man leaves able to finish what he came in for.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are an analyst in an HSBC payments operations team. Payments above a set limit must be checked and released by a second person, and each release is made under that person’s own login. The desk is short-staffed this month, and when the second checker steps away colleagues routinely release urgent payments under her login and tell her afterwards. Nobody treats it as a problem. Your team leader is at her desk today and has asked how the week is going. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Ask the colleagues who do it to stop, one at a time and quietly, and see over the next few weeks whether the practice dies out on its own.
   2. Write the pattern up properly and take it to the control forum that meets next month, where the whole desk can discuss it with the evidence set out in front of them.
   3. Release this afternoon's urgent payments under the second checker's login while she is at lunch, as the desk normally does, and let her know once she is back.
   4. Raise it with your team leader today as a control that is not working, describing the practice rather than the individuals, and hold your own urgent payments until a second checker is free.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Raise it with your team leader today as a control that is not working, describing the practice rather than the individuals, and hold your own urgent payments until a second checker is free.

   Least effective: C. Release this afternoon's urgent payments under the second checker's login while she is at lunch, as the desk normally does, and let her know once she is back.

   A: Delays the decision: live payments keep going out under somebody else's login for weeks while you wait to see whether a habit corrects itself.

   B: Escalates on the wrong clock: the forum is the right audience for a pattern and the wrong one for something happening every afternoon until it meets.

   C: Breaches a stated control: the second pair of eyes is the control, and releasing under her login removes it while leaving a record that says she did the check.

   The most effective response is raising it with your team leader today as a control that is not working, and holding your own urgent payments until a second checker is free. The check exists to put a second pair of eyes on the payment, and the person who can change how the desk works is sitting there today. It beats asking the colleagues who do it to stop one at a time, because the releases continue while you wait to see whether a habit corrects itself. It beats writing the pattern up for the control forum that meets next month, because a forum is the right audience for a pattern and the wrong one for something happening every afternoon. The least effective response is releasing this afternoon’s payments under the second checker’s login while she is at lunch: it does not merely leave the control weak, it removes the control entirely, and the record then says a check was made by somebody who never saw the payment. The principle: a rule everybody quietly works around is still a rule, and the person who owns it should hear about it from you before it fails. This is what HSBC’s ‘We take responsibility’ points to: you own a control that is failing rather than the habit that hides it.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You work as an HSBC relationship support officer for business customers. A company you look after has applied to increase its lending facility, and the credit team has come back asking for three documents. From the last few cases you know that once those arrive the analyst almost always asks for two or three more, and cannot say which until she has seen the first three. The company’s finance manager has emailed you asking what he needs to send, and has told you he is planning around a decision by the end of the month. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send the credit team's list straight to the finance manager and leave him to take any further questions to the credit analyst himself, since she is the one who knows what she wants.
   2. Hold the reply for a day while you ask the credit analyst what else she is likely to want, then send the finance manager one list covering the three documents and anything she flags.
   3. Send the three documents now and say nothing about the further questions you expect, so that the finance manager is not discouraged before the case has even started.
   4. Send the three documents now, tell the finance manager that further questions are likely once they land, and give him a date on which you will come back to him either way.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Send the three documents now, tell the finance manager that further questions are likely once they land, and give him a date on which you will come back to him either way.

   Least effective: C. Send the three documents now and say nothing about the further questions you expect, so that the finance manager is not discouraged before the case has even started.

   A: Passes responsibility to others: the customer is handed an internal back-and-forth to manage on his own, with no way of knowing what is still coming or when it ends.

   B: Delays the reply for a completeness nobody can give you: the analyst cannot say what she will want until she has seen the first three, so the day buys a list that is still partial while the documents he could start gathering today sit with you.

   C: Withholds what he asked for: it protects the customer's mood at the cost of the one thing he came to you for, which is enough of the picture to plan the month he told you about.

   The most effective response is sending the three documents now, telling the finance manager that further questions are likely once they land, and giving him a date on which you will come back to him. He is planning around the end of the month, so what he needs is the shape of what is coming rather than today’s instalment of it. It beats holding the reply for a day while you ask the analyst what else she is likely to want, because she cannot say until she has seen the first three, so the day costs him a day of gathering and still buys a partial list. It beats sending the credit team’s list straight to him and leaving him to take further questions to the analyst, because the work of steering an internal process then lands on the customer and nobody on your side is holding the case. The least effective response is sending the three documents and saying nothing about the further questions you expect, so that he is not discouraged. The other two weak answers give him something true and incomplete; this one decides, on his behalf and without telling him, that he is better off not knowing. He asked for what he needs to send because he is planning a month around the answer, and he will now plan it on a picture you already know to be wrong. The principle: give a customer the shape of what is coming, not only the piece your own process has reached today.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a graduate in an HSBC technology team. At last week’s planning session you argued for one way of making a change and a colleague argued for another; his was chosen, and he was fairly blunt about why yours would not work. His change has now hit a problem in testing, and he has asked the team for help going through it this afternoon. Your own work for the week is on track and you have the time free. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Offer to work through the testing with him this afternoon, and raise your concern from planning as a specific thing to check rather than a rerun of the argument.
   2. Take the testing home this evening, work out what is wrong on your own, and hand him a working version in the morning without going through any of what you changed.
   3. Stop volunteering for anything on his part of the work after the way the planning session went, and put the afternoon into your own tasks instead.
   4. Ask the team leader to move the change over to you, on the grounds that the approach you set out in planning avoids the problem his has run into.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Offer to work through the testing with him this afternoon, and raise your concern from planning as a specific thing to check rather than a rerun of the argument.

   Least effective: C. Stop volunteering for anything on his part of the work after the way the planning session went, and put the afternoon into your own tasks instead.

   B: Substitutes own judgement for the colleague's: the change works again and he is left unable to maintain it, so the team learns nothing from a problem it could have solved together.

   C: Withdraws help after a disagreement: the problem in testing has nothing to do with who won the argument, and the cost of the afternoon is paid by work you both own.

   D: Escalates prematurely: it turns a testing problem into a question about whose approach was right, and asks a manager to reopen a decision the team has already taken.

   The most effective response is offering to work through the testing with him this afternoon and raising your concern from planning as a specific thing to check. The decision about the approach has been made, the problem now belongs to the whole team, and your concern is more use as a test than as a told-you-so. It beats taking the testing home and handing him a working version in the morning, because he is left unable to maintain his own change and nobody learns anything. It beats asking the team leader to move the change over to you, because that reopens a settled decision instead of solving what is in front of everybody. The least effective response is stopping volunteering for anything on his part of the work after the way the planning session went: the withdrawal is aimed at a colleague but lands on work you both own, and nobody outside the argument can even see why the help stopped. The principle: once a decision is made the outcome belongs to everybody, and a bruise from the debate is not a reason to spend the team’s time. This is what HSBC’s ‘We succeed together’ points to: once the approach is chosen the outcome belongs to the team, whoever won the argument.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are an adviser in an HSBC contact centre. A customer has been disputing a monthly charge for several weeks and is now on the line, angry and raising his voice at you. He says an adviser he spoke to in June promised him the charge would be removed, and that nobody has honoured it. Calls are recorded, and there is no note of any such promise on his account. You can amend the account record yourself, and you can also ask for the June call to be listened to. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Take his account of the June call in his own words, say plainly that no note of it exists, and ask for the recording to be checked before the charge is decided.
   2. Remove the charge now as a goodwill gesture so that the call can end, and leave the account record standing exactly as it is, showing that no promise was ever made to him.
   3. Tell him firmly that no promise is recorded, that the charge therefore stands, and close the call before the conversation goes any further.
   4. Amend the account record to show that the June promise was made, then remove the charge on the strength of it and mark the complaint as settled.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Take his account of the June call in his own words, say plainly that no note of it exists, and ask for the recording to be checked before the charge is decided.

   Least effective: D. Amend the account record to show that the June promise was made, then remove the charge on the strength of it and mark the complaint as settled.

   B: Buys quiet at the record's expense: today's call ends, and the file still tells the next adviser nothing about why two hundred pounds of charges came off.

   C: Dismisses a claim without checking: the recording that would settle whether the promise was made is sitting there, and refusing to hear it leaves him certain he was cheated.

   D: Invents the record: the file is made to say something you do not know happened, so the one document a later dispute would rely on now contains a fiction.

   The most effective response is taking his account of the June call in his own words, saying plainly that no note of it exists, and asking for the recording to be checked before the charge is decided. His version is testable, and treating it as worth testing takes the heat out of the call without deciding the question in his favour or against him. It beats removing the charge now as a goodwill gesture and leaving the record standing, because the money question ends while the file still explains nothing to whoever picks him up next. It beats telling him firmly that no promise is recorded and closing the call, because the recording that would settle it goes unheard and he leaves certain he was cheated. The least effective response is amending the account record to show that the June promise was made: the record is the only reliable account of what happened, and writing into it something you do not know took place ruins the very thing any later dispute would turn on. The principle: take the other person’s version seriously enough to test it, and never make the record agree with whoever is loudest.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You work in an HSBC card disputes team. A customer rings about a payment of two hundred pounds he says he never authorised, and he wants it back. With his account open you can see the payment has left him short and that a direct debit for his rent is due to come out tomorrow, which will now fail and cost him a fee. He has not mentioned the rent and does not appear to have noticed. Disputes take up to ten working days and are not always upheld. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Raise the dispute, then tell him about tomorrow's rent payment and what will happen to it, so that he has tonight to move money across or speak to his landlord.
   2. Raise the dispute and assure him the two hundred pounds will be back in his account within a few days, which is what usually happens, so that he can stop worrying.
   3. Raise the dispute and read him the full procedure stage by stage, so that he understands exactly how the ten working days will be spent and what can happen at each point.
   4. Raise the dispute, note on the account that the balance is low, and leave the rent payment to be picked up by whoever handles the account if it fails tomorrow.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Raise the dispute, then tell him about tomorrow's rent payment and what will happen to it, so that he has tonight to move money across or speak to his landlord.

   Least effective: B. Raise the dispute and assure him the two hundred pounds will be back in his account within a few days, which is what usually happens, so that he can stop worrying.

   B: Gives an assurance you cannot deliver: disputes run to ten working days and are not always upheld, so the comfort lasts until tomorrow and the rent fails anyway.

   C: Ignores the customer's actual need: he leaves the call better informed about a process and no better placed to deal with what hits his account tomorrow morning.

   D: Passes responsibility to others: the person who can still act tonight is the customer, and he is the one nobody is telling.

   The most effective response is raising the dispute and then telling him about tomorrow’s rent payment and what will happen to it. The two hundred pounds is what he rang about, but the rent is what will reach him first, and tonight is the only time anyone can do something about it. It beats raising the dispute and reading him the procedure stage by stage, because he ends the call understanding the process and still walks into a failed rent payment. It beats noting on the account that the balance is low and leaving the rent to whoever handles it if it fails, because the one person who can still act is the customer and he is the one being left out. The least effective response is raising the dispute and assuring him the money will be back within a few days: the assurance is not yours to give, disputes are not always upheld, and it buys calm tonight by making tomorrow worse. The principle: answer the question the customer asked, then tell him about the harm arriving sooner than the one he noticed. This is what HSBC’s ‘We get it done’ points to: the job is finished when the customer can deal with tomorrow, not when the dispute is raised.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You work in an HSBC financial crime team, reviewing accounts that have been flagged. The team’s rule is absolute: a review is never discussed with anyone outside it, including colleagues elsewhere in the business. A relationship manager you get on well with stops you in the corridor. One of his long-standing customers has had payments held up for a fortnight, the customer is furious with him, and he asks you straight out whether the account is with your team and how long it will take. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Refuse the question politely and ask him not to raise it with you again, then carry on to your desk without mentioning the conversation to anyone in your own team.
   2. Tell him you cannot discuss any account with him and that questions have to go to your team formally, then let your team leader know that he asked you directly.
   3. Say nothing about the account itself, but suggest he asks the customer directly what has been happening, which will tell him more than you are allowed to.
   4. Tell him quietly that the account is under review with your team and that he should not expect anything to move this week, so that he can manage his customer.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell him you cannot discuss any account with him and that questions have to go to your team formally, then let your team leader know that he asked you directly.

   Least effective: D. Tell him quietly that the account is under review with your team and that he should not expect anything to move this week, so that he can manage his customer.

   A: Fails to escalate a genuine risk: the approach is itself something your team needs to know about, and treating it as a private awkwardness leaves the next person he asks unwarned.

   C: Signals what the rule forbids saying: pointing him at the customer is an answer dressed as a refusal, and it arrives at the place the rule was written to keep him away from.

   D: Breaches a stated confidence: the rule exists precisely for the moment a colleague has a good reason to ask, and a quiet answer in a corridor is still the answer it forbids.

   The most effective response is telling him you cannot discuss any account with him and that questions have to go to your team formally, then letting your team leader know he asked you directly. The rule holds hardest with a colleague you like who has a real reason to ask, and the approach itself is information your own team needs. It beats refusing the question politely and carrying on to your desk without mentioning the conversation, because your team is then unaware that somebody outside it is trying to find out. It beats suggesting he asks the customer directly what has been happening, because that is an answer wearing the costume of a refusal. The least effective response is telling him quietly that the account is under review and that nothing will move this week: it hands a colleague outside the team the two facts the rule exists to keep inside it, and a corridor is no less a disclosure than an email would be. The principle: a confidence is not a preference to be weighed against a colleague’s difficulty, and the fact that somebody asked is itself worth reporting. This is what HSBC’s ‘We take responsibility’ points to: you hold the rule, and you carry the fact that it was tested back to the people who own it.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are an assistant in an HSBC trade finance operations team. Every Monday a checklist arrives from another site with the same field left blank, and every week each person on your team emails the sender separately to get it. Between you that costs about an hour a week and has been going on since you joined. Nobody has ever told the other site that the field is missing, and your own team leader has said she is happy for people to bring her things worth fixing. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Assume the other site already knows, since half your team emails them about it every week, and carry on filling the field in by hand as everyone else does.
   2. Collect the last few weeks' checklists and take them to your team leader with a suggestion that the other site's template be changed, then follow it up until it is.
   3. Email the other site's shared inbox yourself each Monday when the field is blank, and leave it there if nothing changes after a few weeks of asking.
   4. Build a spreadsheet that fills the missing field in from the previous week's checklist, and share it with the whole team so that nobody has to email the other site again.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Collect the last few weeks' checklists and take them to your team leader with a suggestion that the other site's template be changed, then follow it up until it is.

   Least effective: A. Assume the other site already knows, since half your team emails them about it every week, and carry on filling the field in by hand as everyone else does.

   A: Assumes the problem away: a dozen separate emails asking for the same field look like ordinary traffic at the other end, which is exactly why nobody there has noticed.

   C: Raises it where nothing owns it: a shared inbox has no name against it, so the request arrives nowhere in particular and the Monday after looks exactly the same.

   D: Builds a workaround around the cause: it saves the team an hour a week and makes the broken template permanently invisible to the people who could repair it.

   The most effective response is collecting the last few weeks’ checklists and taking them to your team leader with a suggestion that the other site’s template be changed, then following it up. The fault is one field on somebody else’s form, it repeats every Monday, and the person who can get it changed has said she wants to hear about things like it. It beats emailing the other site’s shared inbox each Monday and leaving it there if nothing changes, because a shared inbox belongs to nobody and one more request joins the ones already being ignored. It beats building a spreadsheet that fills the field in from last week’s checklist, because the hour is saved and the broken template becomes permanently invisible to the people who could repair it. The least effective response is assuming the other site already knows because your team emails them every week: the separate emails are what makes the fault look normal at their end, so the assumption is the reason nothing has changed since you joined. The principle: a small fault that repeats is worth owning once, with evidence, in front of somebody who can remove it for good. This is what HSBC’s ‘We get it done’ points to: not the quickest way past Monday, but the version in which the form is actually repaired.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You work as an assistant on an HSBC trade confirmations desk. Last week, covering for two absent colleagues, you sent a confirmation with the wrong settlement date; it was caught, corrected, and reported to the client, who was unhappy. Your team leader has called a short review this morning with the whole desk present, and has asked you to talk through what happened. The ticket you worked from was written by the colleague sitting opposite you, and its wording was genuinely ambiguous. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Take the whole thing on yourself in the review, leave the ticket wording out of it entirely, and say you will be more careful, so that the meeting can move on.
   2. Ask your team leader beforehand to hear your account privately rather than in front of the desk, and give the review only the outcome once the two of you have talked.
   3. Set out what you did and where the check should have caught it, then raise the wording as a fact about the ticket format rather than about the colleague who wrote it.
   4. Say in front of the team that the mistake was really the colleague opposite, whose tickets are the hardest on the desk to read, and leave the account there.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Set out what you did and where the check should have caught it, then raise the wording as a fact about the ticket format rather than about the colleague who wrote it.

   Least effective: D. Say in front of the team that the mistake was really the colleague opposite, whose tickets are the hardest on the desk to read, and leave the account there.

   A: Prioritises harmony over honesty: a full account is what the review is for, and leaving out the ambiguity means the same ticket format catches the next person covering the desk.

   B: Avoids the difficult conversation: the desk is where the ticket format is used, so the audience that could act on what you learned is the one you have moved the account away from.

   D: Blames a colleague in front of the team: the wording was genuinely ambiguous, but making that a fact about him turns a review into an accusation and leaves your own part unexamined.

   The most effective response is setting out what you did and where the check should have caught it, then raising the wording as a fact about the ticket format rather than about the colleague. Under scrutiny the useful thing is an accurate account, and the ambiguity is part of that account whether or not it is comfortable to say in the room. It beats taking the whole thing on yourself and leaving the wording out entirely, because the review then fixes nothing and the next person meets the same ticket. It beats asking your team leader to hear your account privately, because the desk is where the format is used and the desk is the audience you would have removed. The least effective response is saying in front of the team that the mistake was really the colleague opposite and that his tickets are the hardest to read: it converts a review of an error into a judgement on a person, in front of everybody, and your own part in it goes unexamined. The principle: under pressure, give the most accurate account you can, and keep it about the work rather than about who else is in the room. This is what HSBC’s ‘We take responsibility’ points to: your own part in it named first, in the room where the work is done.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are an onboarding assistant for HSBC business accounts. Each application carries a checklist, and every step is signed off with the date it was done. Checking a file from last week, you find that one verification step was never marked as completed, although you are fairly sure you carried it out. The account is open and trading. Month-end reporting goes to the regional team tomorrow, and an unmarked step will show as a failed control against your own team. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Enter the step as checked with last week's date, since you are confident you carried it out and the account has been trading without any trouble since.
    2. Carry out the verification again this morning, record it with today's date, and say nothing about the week in which the account was trading unverified.
    3. Carry out the verification now, record it with today's date, and tell your team leader before the reporting goes that the step was missed for a week on a live account.
    4. Raise it with your team leader straight away and leave the checklist exactly as it is until she decides what should be entered, even though the account is live and unverified.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: C. Carry out the verification now, record it with today's date, and tell your team leader before the reporting goes that the step was missed for a week on a live account.

    Least effective: A. Enter the step as checked with last week's date, since you are confident you carried it out and the account has been trading without any trouble since.

    A: Puts a date on the record you cannot stand behind: the entry says the check happened last week, and the only evidence for that is your own memory of a busy afternoon.

    B: Hides the problem: the file is put right and the week in which a live account ran without its check disappears, so the failure is never counted anywhere.

    D: Delays the check that matters: telling her is right, but the account stays live and unverified while a question about paperwork is being settled.

    The most effective response is carrying out the verification now, recording it with today’s date, and telling your team leader before the reporting goes that the step was missed on a live account. The record then says what actually happened, and the reporting counts a control failure that really occurred. It beats carrying out the verification again and saying nothing about the week the account traded unverified, because the file looks tidy and the failure that should have been counted quietly disappears. It beats raising it with your team leader and leaving the checklist as it is until she decides, because the account stays unverified while a question about paperwork is settled. The least effective response is entering the step as checked with last week’s date: it makes the file assert that a check happened on a day when the only evidence is your own memory, and every later reader will treat that assertion as fact. The principle: put the work right first, then let the record say exactly what happened, including the part that counts against you. This is what HSBC’s ‘We take responsibility’ points to: the miss is yours to book, not to tidy away.