More HSBC evasion to Parliament

Following the Lords Economic Affairs Committee hearing with ex HSBC Chair Stephen Green, the Chairman of the committee Lord Hollick wrote to the current chair of HSBC, Douglas Flint raising my concerns about debt recovery charges. I had written to Lord Hollick prior to the hearing. This is a extract from his letter:

Screen Shot 2015-09-01 at 14.18.22Whilst this letter refers to the charges as not being illegal (they are, they were fraudulent) Douglas Flint simply did not address the issue, and stated that he could “only respond on behalf of HSBC” (meaning not for HFC, presumably.) But HSBC were also adding the charges as John Lewis Financial Services Limited. Flint seems more concerned about reputational damage and loss of “revenue streams” than redress to hundreds of thousands fraud victims. Here is Flint’s response (complete letter here):

Screen Shot 2015-09-01 at 14.24.59

Screen Shot 2015-09-01 at 14.25.24Here is an extract the Office of Fair Trading order against HFC (HSBC):

OFT-order_cropAnd here is an extract from the Solicitors Regulation Authority ruling against Weightmans that the charges were illegal contingency fees:,

SRAI have written to Lord Hollick asking him to take the matter further (without much hope of success):

Screen Shot 2015-09-02 at 12.33.04It is worth noting that of the 13 Lords that sit on the Economic Affairs Committee, 9 have a business connection with a financial services company, including Lord May who was on the board of HSBC until last year.