HSBC Holdings plc has announced the appointment of Samir Assaf as chief executive of its global banking and markets business, effective 1st January 2011. He succeeds Stuart Gulliver, who becomes group chief executive on the same date. Mr Assaf, who is currently head of global markets, will report to Mr Gulliver and in his new [...]
Further details have emerged of a $9 billion court case involving HSBC and brought by Irving Pickard, the trustee appointed in connection with the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s investment firm. According to reports, Mr Pickard alleges that the bank ignored repeated warnings that Mr Madoff was a fraudster and that his ponzi scheme was dependent [...]
HSBC is being sued for $9 billion by Irving Picard, a trustee appointed in connection with the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s investment firm. Mr Picard has reportedly asked accountancy firm KPMG to investigate the bank’s involvement with the funds that fed Mr Madoff’s ponzi scheme. The Trustee has already filed a $6.4 billion claim against [...]
HSBC has announced a reshuffle at the top, ahead of the departure of outgoing group chief executive, Michael Geoghegan. The bank has appointed Paul Thurston as chief executive retail banking and wealth management, with effect from 1st March 2011; Mr Thurston will be based in Hong Kong, reporting to group chief executive designate, Stuart Gulliver. [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has imposed certain requirements on Alliance and Leicester Personal Finance Limited (part of Santander), American Express Services Europe Limited, HFC Bank Limited (part of the HSBC Group) and Welcome Financial Services Limited (part of Cattles plc), regarding their use of charging orders. A charging order is a court order [...]
HSBC has reported that pre-tax profits for the year to date remain “well ahead” of 2009, with pre-tax earnings in the third quarter of 2010 also well ahead of a year earlier. However, the rate of advancement slowed, compared with the first half. Personal Financial Services continued to perform ahead of expectations, thanks to lower [...]
The US Federal Reserve Board has issued a “Cease and Desist Order” between the Board and HSBC North America Holdings, Inc. (HNAH). The UK’s biggest bank has been found to have violated both the US Bank Secrecy Act and its underlying regulations. The Order requires HNAH to take corrective action to improve its firm-wide compliance [...]
Some wealthy Britons who are, or have been, customers of HSBC’s Swiss division have received letters from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) warning that tax evasion can lead to a criminal conviction. According to a BBC report, following the theft of client details by a former HSBC employee, HMRC is in now in possession of [...]
HSBC chairman, Stephen Green, is stepping down to take up the post of trade minister with the Coalition Government. Aged 61, Mr Green joined HSBC in 1982, serving as group chief executive from 2003 to 2006 before moving on to group chairman. The new comes alongside Barclays’ announcement that chief executive John Varley is to [...]
A senior HSBC executive has warned that the bank may relocate its London headquarters if the Government insists that UK domiciled banks separate out their retail and investment activities. HM Treasury’s Independent Commission on Banking is currently examining the systemic risk posed by the size, complexity and interconnectedness of Britain’s larger banks, and HSBC’s head [...]
The UK’s leading High Street banks have formed a taskforce that will “identify barriers to businesses securing finance and make constructive suggestions about how the issues may be addressed”, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has reported. The move follows heavy criticism of the banks by politicians and trade organisations who claim the economic recovery is [...]
HSBC recorded pre-tax profits of $11.1 billion in the first half of 2010, with profit having more than doubled when compared to a year earlier. Total operating income rose 1%, to over $40 billion, while loan impairment charges and other credit risk provisions fell to $7.5 billion, the lowest level since the start of the [...]
HSBC is reported to be close to finalising a deal for a £600 million finance package that will enable the completion of the Pinnacle skyscraper on London’s Bishopsgate. The building, which has been nick-named the Helter Skelter, is an Arab Investments project that needs to raise a further £130 million from a consortium of other [...]
US tax authorities have turned their attention to HSBC clients with tax evasion tendencies, following the success of the case brought against Swiss investment bank, UBS. Last month, the Swiss parliament passed a bill that allowed UBS to hand over details of American account holders suspected of tax evasion, the US and Swiss governments having [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is selling its Indian Retail & Commercial banking operations to HSBC. Subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction will take the form of an asset and liability transfer that will complete in the first half of 2011, when just over 1,800 RBS staff will move across to HSBC. According to the [...]
HSBC has come in for a lambasting from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which is asking the Government to intervene over the charges levied by banks for payments by plastic. Not only have transaction costs almost doubled in the past five years, but in addition, the BRC claims “banks are deliberately creating new card products [...]
