Household HSBC Watch

Global Payments Inc., a provider of electronic transaction processing solutions, announced it has agreed to form a joint venture with HSBC Bank plc to provide payment processing services to merchants in the United Kingdom and Internet merchants globally. The new company will operate under the name HSBC Merchant Services. The big question is whether the operation will assume any or all of the duties now performed by HSBC Finance in the United States. HSBC Retail Services is a carryover from Household International, now fully assimilated into HSBC USA. They provide private label credit card and HSBC credit card operations.