I don't know anything about the financials of this bank, but I know that it makes most of its money in China. The China property market is in a precarious state, and one feels that it's impossible for HSBC to have no exposure to it, even if it's indirect. The authorities might choose to bail out the state-controlled banks, but I can't see that happening to HSBC.

The China stock market has been extremely resilient, but it seems very unlikely that it is not heavily manipulated by the authorities. It just occurred to me that shorting $HSBC might be the way to get an exposure. How to execute this is difficult. Maybe an out of the money tight put spread at as long a maturity as possible. The problem is that the problems in China could remain hidden for a very long time. The Chinese have a very long term vision.