A large Califronia pension fund has put more pressure on HSBC, setting a deadline for change. Christy Wood, Calpers’ head of global equities, told The Sunday Times it wants HSBC to reveal detailed plans to refocus the group, address share-price underperformance and set a series of testing financial targets. “We want to see this unfold in the next few months. If they do not set it out before July 1 then there is a problem,” said Wood.

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Rumors abound about HSBC and HSBC Auto Finance, a subsidiary of HSBC Finance. This is another division that was part of Household International, and thus called HSBC Auto. The main complaint about HSBC Auto concerns lien releases, or the lack of them. It was a problem when Household International owned the company, and we continue to receive complaints about lien releases. If a customer cannot count on selling the vehicle it does present a problem. HSBC will not confirm or deny plans to sell HSBC Auto. HSBC Holdings PLC could exit all or parts of its $13 billion auto-finance business, the Wall Street Journal said.

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SIVs were unable to finance themselves as subprime losses prompted investors to retreat from all but the safest of securities. Three SIVs have defaulted and others are being bailed out by their sponsors. The world’s 30 SIVs have about $300 billion of assets. SIVs sell short-term debt and invest the proceeds in higher-yielding securities.

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It seems HSBC Finance has debited customers accounts more than once - up to three times according to some customers. HSBC Finance, formerly predatory lender Household International, attributed the problem to a computer glitch. The explanations says little, but some customers are saying a lot. One customer said he went online to pay bills and noticed his balance was much lower than he expected. According to one radio website the man’s $400 payment was debited three times. Happy holidays could be ruined for some, as many HSBC Finance customers are sub-prime, thus they do not have a lot in checking in the first place.

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HSBC Plc once said it does not lobby for change, but Household International certainly did. Even after HSBC bought Household International the spending continued. In 2005 total lobbying expenditures were $2,780,000. Thanks to Open Secrets we also discovered that lobbying for HSBC North America increased to $3,760,000 in 2006. This link will start you at 2003 and you can progress from there. It is interactive.