Household HSBC Watch

The new bank already has one branch that opened on Monday, in Bethesda, outside Washington, D.C. Besides offering loans and deposits, that office also offers check-cashing services. The new charter will also be used for the bank’s pending expansion into Connecticut later this month.

HSBC has aggressively added branches in multiple states over the past two years, pushing well beyond its traditional base in New York State, where its network of nearly 400 branches is the largest of any bank. The company has since added branches in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey. It also has one office each in Delaware, Oregon and Washington state, although it is not growing in those states.

It opened a commercial banking office in Chicago recently, and plans a total of 12 retail branches in Connecticut by the end of next year. Illinois and Texas are other possible targets that have been mentioned for retail branches, although the bank has not announced any such plans in either state.

HSBC USA also started efforts to close down consumer advocacy websites running under the following domain names: householdwatch.com and hsbcwatch.com