HSBC Holdings plc is a
public limited company incorporated in
England and Wales in 1990, and headquartered in
London since 1993.
[1] As of 2008, it is both the world's largest banking group and the world's largest company according to a composite measure by
Forbes magazine.
[2][3] The group was founded from
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation based in
Hong Kong, the acronym of which led to the current name. Today, whilst Hong Kong still continues to be a significant source of income for the group, no single geographical area dominates earnings. Recent acquisitions and expansion in
China are returning HSBC to part of its roots.
[4] HSBC is Europe's biggest bank and has an enormous operational base in Asia and significant lending, investment, and insurance activities around the world. The company has a global reach and financial fundamentals matched by few other banking or financial multinationals.
[5] Role in subprime crisis
In November 2002 HSBC expanded in the United States, spending £9bn (US$15.5bn) to acquire
Household Finance Corporation (HFC), a US credit card issuer and
subprime lender.
[25] In a 2003 cover story,
The Banker noted "when banking historians look back, they may conclude that [it] was the deal of the first decade of the 21st century".
[26] Under the new name of
HSBC Finance, the division was the second largest subprime lender in the US,
[27] prompting criticism from activist investor
Knight Vinke.
The business indeed turned sour, costing HSBC some US$62bn. In March 2009, HSBC announced that it would shut down the branch network of its HSBC Finance arm in the U.S., leading to nearly 6,000 job losses, and leaving only the credit card business to continue operating.
[28][29]
Chairman
Stephen Green admitted that "it’s an acquisition we wish we hadn’t done with the benefit of hindsight"
[30]; analyst Colin Morton said, "the takeover was an absolute disaster".
[31] [29]
Although it was at the centre of the subprime storm, the wider group has weathered the economic crisis better than other global banks. According to
Bloomberg, "HSBC is one of world’s strongest banks by some measures."
[32] When
HM Treasury required all UK banks to increase their capital in October 2007, the group transferred £750 million to London within hours, and announced that it had just lent £4 billion to other UK banks.
[33] In March 2009, it announced that it had made US$5.73bn of profit in 2008 and announced a £12.5bn (US$17.7bn; HK$138bn)
rights issue to enable it to buy other banks that were struggling to survive.
[34] However, uncertainty over the rights' issue's implications for institutional investors caused volatility in the Hong Kong stock market: on 9 March 2009 HSBC's share price fell 24.14%, with 12 million shares sold in the last few seconds of trading.
[35]
As of
April 2,
2008, according to
Forbes magazine, HSBC was the fourth largest bank in the world in terms of assets ($2,348.98 billion), the second largest in terms of sales ($146.50 billion), the largest in terms of market value ($180.81 billion). It was also the most profitable bank in the world with $19.13 billion in net income in 2007 (compared to
Citigroup's $3.62 billion and
Bank of America's $14.98 billion in the same period).
[40]
HSBC is by far the largest bank both in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong and prints most of Hong Kong's local currency in its own name. Since the end of 2005, HSBC has been the largest banking group in the world by
Tier 1 capital.
[41]
Yeah, us against them... some chance we got.
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) and my 1st (CW) agreed to reduce my principal balance. Not gonna happen. No lenders are giving principal balances yet (if ever). I gave up on HSBC a long time ago. There are others w/HSBC loans on this site who also have not had much luck w/ them. I think a few here have gotten short term, rate reductions. But, my financial goals are long-term at this point. Not short term. Plus, I don't want to answer to predatory loan sharks anymore. I want them gone from my life and not making another cent from me. Ever again. Your instinct to not trust their words without having something in writing was right on! The fact that they would not put anything in writing tells you they had no intention of honoring whatever they were offering. The 1st rule re loan mods is to not deal w/ the collection dept. of any lender. Deal w/ the loan mod dept ONLY. Collection reps will say or do anything to make you part with your $$$$. That's their sole goal. There certainly is a loan mod dept. That info is on this site somewhere, keep reading for it. I don't remember where specifically it is listed. The moderator, ***, may stop by and provide it for you (if you still want ot try for a mod with HSBC). But, I just wanted to say good for you for not falling for their collection tactics! From what I've heard thus far, HSBC has not been doing much for distressed homeowners other than short-term interest rate reductions (only for 6 mos at a time and then make homeowners go through their bogus process every 6 mos). The truth is sometimes lenders/investors make more $$$ on a distressed loan by foreclosing vs. modifying the loan for a borrower. So, no matter how hard the borrower tries to remedy the situation, the lender moves toward foreclosure anyways. 
. So, I'm chalking the whole experience up to a "teachable moment" and vowing to never be in this type of situation ever again. 
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