Household HSBC Watch

HSBC may be bleeding from the eyeballs in the United States like an ebola outbreak, but in China HSBC will target rich Chinese. HSBC Holdings Plc. said on Monday it had set out an aggressive plan to increase its banking network in China next year. HSBC wealth management centers target HSBC’s “premier customers” whose average daily balance is no less than 500,000 yuan ($67,620). Many HSBC customers don’t realize HSBC is the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation. HSBC bought their way into the United States by buying Marine Midland Bank. Problems started when HSBC bought predatory lender Household International in 2003. The Chinese have Google, so examples in the United States will be available to Chinese, wealthy or not. HSBC blames U.S. problems on subprime, while some analysts blame poor stop-gaps and faulty risk management for HSBC’s acquisition of subprime debt long after warning signs developed.