Household HSBC Watch

It has been ten years since consumer advocates started Household - HSBC Watch. Sometimes we wonder where the years went. Ten years ago we started a single web page on a free server. Now we have over 3000 visitors every day. Part of the traffic obviously is a result of the […]

Although the credit quality problems at HSBC Finance appear to have tempered management’s enthusiasm for cheap acquisitions of distressed assets, HSBC wasted no time in complaining about wording in the US government $700 Billion bailout. The issue was the wording of “Headquarters in the United States.” As lawmakers and Financial chiefs worked on […]

We saw this on September 16th: “Investment banks must move quickly to strengthen their balance sheets and address their lack of funding if they are to come out of the current financial crisis unscathed, a senior banker at HSBC has warned.” A warning from HSBC? Acting like a global authority HSBC fails […]

Bankruptcy laws were changed and strengthened in 2005. Then greedy banksters, mortgage brokers, and lending companies felt safe. They could do whatever they wanted to do, since it was harder to declare bankruptcy. Nationally, the total number of bankruptcies filed in the first half of 2008, however, rose 29.2 percent, to 522,205, […]

In the US Banker section of American Banker, we spotted an interesting line: “The concern was, ‘How much subprime do you do? What is your risk of having what Household (International) had?’” It was a question asked of Richard Davis, CEO of U.S. Bancorp, in February 2007. HSBC bought Household in […]

This is a perfect example of HSBC’s exportation of the Household International model of doing business. Credit card interest rates have been increased to as high as 50 percent in India. While proud of making a profit in developing nations HSBC is not alone. ICIC, Deutsche Bank, SBI and HSBC have either […]

What is the relationship between HSBC and their regulator, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency? Keep in mind that HSBC spends millions on lobbying and has hired former OCC executives in the past. Here is an example of that relationship.

This is part of a public records document written September 29, 2006 […]

HSBC bought a failure in 2003 when the bank bought Household International. Why couldn’t HSBC turn the failure in to a profit center? Because real bankers do not understand finance companies. London was far removed from a branch manager trying to collect from a customer. Simply said, when HSBC bought William […]

“It is clear that growth models in our industry based on high and increasing leverage will no longer be sustainable,” said HSBC chairman Stephen Green. Changes are being made at HSBC, partly to appease Knight Vinke. Don’t tell Green, however, because he wants the world to think it is all his idea. […]

In a news article from late last week titled “Business big shot: Michael Geoghegan” we see the power of algorithms and content matching. Although I do not know what the article was really trying to prove, the Times Online also suggests other relative articles. One related article is titled “HSBC profit falls […]