Household HSBC Watch

HSBC received a firm offer for its French units according to Bloomberg. 400 branches only gave HSBC 20 percent of pre-tax profits so they are being sold for 2.1 billion euros, which is $3.2 billion (USD). Apparently the Household International deal has gone sour in the United States as well.

HSCB plans to earn […]

For months we have heard of federal and local programs to help homeowners. Attemping to avoid ARM resets is the main emphasis. What happens to people with other onerous terms and conditions? What happens when they contact HSBC and receive no help? Thay become disloyal angry customers. The extent […]

After Sarbanes-Oxley, which was adopted primarily because of the Enron debacle, many foreign entities complained and threated to stop doing business in the United States because of Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. (We have 16 articles in the Sarbanes-Oxley section of this blog.) Banks such as HSBC complained but found it difficult to leave the United […]

HSBC Holdings Plc’s rescue of its Asscher Finance Ltd. structured investment vehicle will mean 70 percent losses for bondholders including a Spanish unit of Credit Suisse Group. London-based HSBC is restructuring Asscher to prevent it from having to sell assets at fire sale prices to repay maturing debt. Asscher has $5.9 billion of debt […]

Customers of HSBC experience the highest rates of identity theft in the banking industry, according to an investigative study released Wednesday by a UC Berkeley Law School researcher. HSBC is clearly in the lead. Through an extensive Freedom of Information Act request, Chris Hoofnagle, a staff attorney at UC Berkeley’s Boalt School of […]

HSBC Canada’s year-end report did not remove the focus from a drop in fourth quarter profits. HSBC Bank Canada saw its fourth quarter profits drop 13.3 per cent, because of a $47 million writedown the Vancouver-based bank took on its non-bank asset-backed commercial paper. Initial reports touted full year performance which was […]

Credit Mutuel seems to be the most likely candidate to buy more than half the French operations of HSBC while HSBC says it will focus on emerging markets. HSBC also declined to comment on reports that the bank was selling its French operations. The most efficient way to impliment HSBC’s “Household Model” is to […]

HSBC sparked fears of identity theft with a direct marketing campaign that featured a fake till receipt for a bill of almost £3,000, but has escaped censure from the advertising watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority received 10 complaints about the mailing from people who objected that the ad was distressing and irresponsible because they initially […]

The economy is booming in Peru and HSBC is knocking at the door. HSBC plans to have 28 offices open in Peru by the end of this year, HSBC’s chief executive Michael Geoghegan told newspaper El Comercio. “This year we will end with 28 offices, and each year we will open 15 […]

HSBC shares dropped in Hong Kong after word that HSBC is considering the sale of 300 to 400 French regional branches. Similar to HSBC’s purchase of Household International in 2003, HSBC acquired the French retail network when it bought out CCF for $12.5 billion in 2000. Activist investor Knight-Vinke said HSBC […]