Household HSBC Watch

Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:21 PM BST, LONDON (Reuters) - Banks such as HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays are likely to express interest in buying Morgan Stanley’s Discover credit card unit, banking sources said pm Friday. Morgan Stanley said last week it planned to spin off Discover by giving its investors shares in the seventh-biggest U.S. card issuer, which analysts have valued at more than $10 billion (5.3 billion pounds). Britain’s three biggest banks have all bought U.S. credit card businesses in the past two years and are looking to expand in the world’s biggest market for plastic purchases.

US consumer watchdog organization Household - HSBC Watch said if HSBC bought Discover Card from Morgan Stanley it would test the FSA as the processor would be HSBC’s predatory lending unit Household International. “Predatory credit card processing under oppressive terms and binding arbitration is not needed in England” said the group. Visit Household Watch and see consumer complaints in the United States.