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Giles Morgan, group head of sport sponsorship at HSBC, said it achieved the 20% cuts on sport sponsorship by focusing on its core activities and cutting some of its local sponsorship ties.

HSBC does not break out overall sponsorship spend figures. But like its rival banks, its sponsorship expenditure has come under the public gaze after the Government bailout of UK banks.

HSBC's sport sponsorship portfolio was previously more diverse and included sponsorship of Formula One.

Morgan pointed to the example of HSBC ending its sponsorship of Australia’s "city to surf" event, compared to its sponsorship of the HSBC Waratahs rugby team, a core sport for the bank.

Morgan said: "We could sponsor any sport and could make a case for tennis or cricket."

But he said that golf and rugby represented a good fit with the bank’s "brand heritage".

HSBC's sport sponsorship activities include a number of global events, including golf’s open championship, the rugby world sevens, the Abu Dhabi golf championships, and the sponsorship of the British and Irish Lions.

Morgan said that HSBC’s debut sponsorship of the open championship would be a key event for this year and an "experiential" experience for customers.

HSBC are in the first year of a sponsorship deal with the IRB for the naming rights of the World Seven Series. The World Sevens Series is in all 6 olympic territories and attracted over 500,000 people to stadia to witness 7s in full flow in 2009/10 series. TV audiences were in excess of 750 million. With these numbers sure to grow again this season, HSBC will be getting a great return for supporting 7s as it follows its road to the Rio Olympics in 2016