The sale of new shares is the biggest in British history, and comes as HSBC works to protect its balance sheet against the ongoing credit crunch.
HSBC has enjoyed a largely successful sale of new shares to investors, meaning that the bank's balance sheet is better-equipped to ride out the financial downturn.
The bank announced that 96.6 percent of the stock - 4.9 billion shares - had been snapped up, making Britain's biggest ever rights issue a success. The sale is worth around £12.5 billion in total.
HSBC has been left relatively unscathed by the global credit crunch, in contrast to many of its rivals. This is due partly to the fact that it largely avoided investing in the complex "toxic assets" linked to mortgages which have been so devalued in the downturn.
The bank has therefore been able to remain independent from government bailouts, not participating in either October 2008's £37 billion recapitalisation plan or the more recent Asset Protection Scheme - which saw "toxic assets" insured by the taxpayer.
However, the banking crisis left the firm in need of fresh capital, necessitating the calling of the rights issue on March 2nd.
Stephen Green, group chairman of HSBC, commented: "I would like to thank shareholders for their support in this successful rights issue. This underlines our determination that HSBC should maintain its signature financial strength which has served us so well over HSBC's long history."
The bank chief also apparently dropped a hint to shareholders that the firm now move to make acquisitions of other firms. "We remain confident that HSBC is well-placed in today's environment and that our strength leads to opportunity," he added.
HSBC, headquartered in London, is Europe's largest bank. Shares in the firm rose by over four percent on the FTSE 100 in response to the news.
