Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

HSBC North America Pension Plan [Member]

Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans [Line Items]

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost

The following table reflects the portion of pension expense and its related components of the combined HSBC North America Pension Plan which has been allocated to us and is recorded in our consolidated statement of income (loss). We have not been allocated any portion of the Plan's net pension asset.

Year Ended December 31,	2020		2019		2018
	(in millions)
Interest cost on projected benefit obligation	$	45	$	56	$	60
Expected return on plan assets	(68)		(78)		(78)
Amortization of net actuarial loss	4		21		31
Administrative costs	4		4		6
Pension (income) expense	$	(15)	$	3	$	19

Schedule of Assumptions Used

The assumptions used in determining pension expense of the HSBC North America Pension Plan are as follows:

	2020		2019		2018
Discount rate	2.45	%	3.15	%	4.25	%
Expected long-term rate of return on Plan assets(1)	3.50		5.00		5.50

(1)As a result of a significant decrease in yields on fixed income securities driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent reduction in longer term capital market returns, as well as a shift in investment mix that reduced the Plan's exposure to equity investments, HSBC North America decided to reduce its expected long-term rate of return on Plan assets assumption to 3.50 percent, effective beginning July 1, 2020. The expected long-term rate of return on Plan assets used during the first half of 2020 was 5.00 percent.

Postretirement Plans Other Than Pensions [Member]

Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans [Line Items]

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost

The following table reflects the components of the net periodic postretirement benefit cost:

Year Ended December 31,	2020		2019		2018
	(in millions)
Interest cost on accumulated benefit obligation	$	1	$	2	2
Amortization of net actuarial gain	—		(2)		(2)
Net periodic postretirement benefit cost	$	1	$	—	$	—

Schedule of Assumptions Used

The assumptions used in determining the net periodic postretirement benefit cost for our postretirement benefit plans are as follows:

	2020		2019		2018
Discount rate	3.00	%	4.15	%	3.45	%
Salary increase assumption	3.00		3.00		3.00

The assumptions used in determining the benefit obligation of our postretirement benefit plans at December 31 are as follows:

	2020		2019		2018
Discount rate	2.25	%	3.00	%	4.15	%
Salary increase assumption	3.00		3.00		3.00

Schedule of Accumulated and Projected Benefit Obligations

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances of the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation is as follows:

	2020		2019
	(in millions)
Accumulated benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	45	$	42
Interest cost	1		2
Actuarial losses	2		5
Benefits paid, net	(3)		(4)
Accumulated benefit obligation at end of year	$	45	$	45

Schedule of Expected Benefit Payments

Estimated future benefit payments for our postretirement benefit plans are summarized in the following table:

	(in millions)
2021	$	4
2022	4
2023	4
2024	3
2025	3
2026-2030	13