Perhaps HSBC can look for servicemen missing in action or classified as prisoners of war. HSBC Holdings PLC plans to increase its branches in Vietnam and is looking at setting up operations in Laos and Cambodia. “We plan to have a total of 10 outlets [in Vietnam] this year,” said HSBC Vietnam President and Chief Executive Thomas Tobin on Monday. The bank already has one branch in Ho Chi Minh City and another in Hanoi. HSBC set up a wholly foreign owned bank in Vietnam, the first to do so under the communist-ruled country’s opening of its financial services sector, the company said on Monday.

Roughly 59,000 Americans died in Vietnam. While HSBC now operates freely in this communist country, United States servicemen and women complain about HSBC. Complaints range from late payments, to foreclosure, and HSBC protested lowering of interest rates under the Soldiers and Sailors Act. Vietnam, a country of 86 million people, has only a short tradition of retail banking, with families traditionally storing their wealth in gold and other assets, but the sector is now crowded with more than 80 banks.

Some have contrasted HSBC’s goals in Iraq with HSBC plans to expand in other developing nations. While fighting to make that possible, soldiers from the U.S. and U.K. complained of unfair treatment by HSBC. HSBC is the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank.

CACCF Record Counts by Age at Time of Death or
Declaration of Death (as of 12/98)

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