HSBC never looked into the future when they purchased Household International, and they certainly never made developing the company once they acquired it a top priority. I always had the impression that they were in it for the short term, as they were notorious for leaving branches in various stages of decay. Many times I saw examples of the corporate headquarters outright refusing to give branches new office equipment that simply did not work anymore. It is my opinion that they just wanted to make a quick buck off of the remaining shards of the Household blowup by propping up Household with HSBC funds. They could then sell off the business at a profit to the next sucker once they made it look viable again. Because the sub-prime crisis has rendered Household essentially worthless (again), they are forced to keep it. But someone needs to be blamed for the lack of profits, so why not put the entire sales staff on corrective action?
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