Household HSBC Watch

Concerns of a global economic slowdown, tensions over Iran and selling by foreign investors across several Gulf Arab bourses depressed regional benchmarks. Stocks also fell on reports the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates is planning to tighten rules on lending to help rein in inflation. “To be honest, the whole atmosphere in the GCC region is negative,” said Samer al-Jouani, general manager of Middle East Financial Brokerage Co. How will this event effect HSBC growth plans? It is hard to say at this point, but HSBC is looking for profits in areas other than the U.K. and the U.S.

The problem seems to be that HSBC is a large global bank that looks like a misdirected unguided missile. Without clear leadership HSBC appears to be giving consessions to investor Knight-Vinke, green initiatives, subprime, and other issues. when U.K. residents complain about loans to coal users, HSBC claims they only made 3 percent of total loans to such industries. When Knight-Vinke and California union CalPers made threats involving HSBC Finance Corp HSBC made some changes. What is HSBC trying to hide? Could it be that HSBC in the U.K. and U.S. is just as bad as Countrywide when it comes to subprime lending? Time will tell.