Updated: 09/20/07 6:56 AM - HSBC Bank USA will pay $10.5 million in fines and penalties to the Securities and Exchange Commission for negligently allowing its name and logo to be used in connection with an alleged Miami-based investment fraud targeted at Central and South American investors.

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HS in Alaska asks: “How can I get out of having just signed up for a credit card from HSBC NV NA? I’m so sorry I didn’t find this website before I accepted the credit card offer!”

HSBC has delivered a sharp rebuke to Eric Knight by dismissing the activist investor’s demands for a shake-up in the bank’s corporate governance and rejecting calls for an independent strategic review. Simon Robertson, the bank’s senior independent director, yesterday told Mr Knight that HSBC’s non-executive directors unanimously supported Stephen Green as executive chairman and believed there was no need for a strategy review.

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Ashurst’s bold strategy of targeting activist investors as clients is paying off, with the top 10 firm advising a boldface activist on its current assault on HSBC. US-headquartered asset manager Knight Vinke has turned to Ashurst for strategic advice on its focus on the UK’s biggest bank.

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HSBC, the troubled investment bank, has come under renewed scrutiny from financial regulators for its role in a controversial dawn raid on shares in OMX, the Swedish stock exchange. Borse Dubai was last week censured by the Swedish financial regulators for failing to follow so-called best-practice rules when it built up a big stake in OMX ahead of launching a full takeover bid in early August. The Swedish authorities want to know if the way in which HSBC contacted the OMX shareholders, and the timing of its calls, broke any takeover rules.

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