Household HSBC Watch

“Over the next 12 months we will have greater clarity'’ on defaults as “the bulk'’ of HSBC’s subprime two-year fixed rate home loans in the U.S. reset, Finance Director Douglas Flint said on a conference call with reporters. The company also set aside as much as $1.3 billion for bad unsecured loans through its U.S. consumer branches and credit-card operations, Flint said. In the second half about $5 billion of the company’s adjustable-rate mortgages will reset with higher interest rates, Flint said. HSBC subprime home loans, which totaled $41.4 billion on June 30, are down from $49.5 billion in December.

Translated for real people: “We will see what happens. We have billions of backbreaking loans ready to reset but set aside a small portion for losses. It could get real ugly real fast. We hope these people don’t owe more than their homes are worth. And we really hope gas and food prices don’t go up much more. And worst of all, Federal and State regulators will start looking at us in the forth quarter.”