Household HSBC Watch

HSBC and Vodafone have pulled advertising from social network site Facebook over concerns that their ads were appearing next to a far-right British political party’s content. Mobile phone giant Vodafone and HSBC’s online banking arm First Direct suspended their Facebook ads, fearing their brands would be sullied if linked to the British National Party (BNP).

Sorry, but those brands were already sullied. Vodafone is now run by John Bond. Bond was in charge at HSBC and joined Vodafone after retiring. While at HSBC John Bond, William F. Aldinger (now on the board at AT&T) and others decided to buy U.S. predatory lender Household International. The leadership - and perhaps HSBC’s more so than Vodafone - is now identified with subprime lending, loan lossses, and loss of stock market values around the world as a result of subprime.

Also associated with subprime lending are famous brands like HFC, Beneficial Finance, and others. The Australian stock market lost $60 million in one day. Germany had to bail out one of ther largest banks. Bear Sterns took huge losses. In May, UBS, the Swiss-based banking giant, announced it was shutting down its Dillon Read Capital Management hedge fund after incurring a $123 million loss because of its exposure to the U.S. subprime market. During the Aldinger tenure 89 year old Madie Wilson was foreclosed upon after being duped into a contract which she thought was a grant that did not require repayment.

Sullied brands because of Facebook? That is laughable. How about John Bond’s sullied reputation because of the Household International debacle and HSBC’s sullied name because of the avalanche of subprime loans? How about a dose of reality? The only one laughing is William F. Aldinger.