HSBC regrets buying HFC Bank

The ex-chairman of HSBC Stephen Green, now Minister of State for Trade in the current government, said this: “With the benefit of hindsight, this is an acquisition we wish we had not undertaken” referring to HSBC’s $15Bn acquisition of the sub-prime lender Household International in 2003. In 2008 HFC was fined £1.08m by the FSA for mis-selling payment protection insurance and in 2010 the OFT ordered them to stop adding collection charges.