It was called a group interview, but it was actually just 2 one on one interviews, and you are only in a group setting for briefing and debriefing. General personal and behavioural questions that are not difficult to answer, and general banking questions that only require basic research on the industry and the bank.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What do you know about the company's commercial banking division?
I applied through college or university. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at HSBC (New York, NY) in Oct 2019
Interview
Relatively straight forward. The first step is an immersive exam that tests behavioral tendencies in different scenarios (replicating real-life examples). Next is an on-campus interview, focusing on introducing yourself, talking about previous experience, and some questions on HSBC (the different services they provide).
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at HSBC
Interview
Two interviews - the first via phone, the second and final a face-to-face interview. The hiring process was unexpectedly speedy, given the various bureaucratic loops the bank has to jump through.
The phone interview was straight-forward, with the standard questions of 'who, why, when.'
The final interview was relatively easy, personality questions and a few case studies. It would do the candidate well to read-up on the bank prior to this interview.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Case studies fielded open ended questions - creativity and basic banking/finance knowledge required.