Hsbc credit card india

NEW DELHI, the capital of India, was recently gripped by fear from the Biker's gang. The dreaded gang used to shoot dead anyone who refused to part with his belongings. After intense public pressure, the police arrested some criminals who were residing in a village in the outskirts, posing as a bank's recovery agents.

The business of 'recovery agency' is absolutely under the control of the dreaded mafia in Delhi. The first person who applies for the licence is generally a person with no criminal background. But the real operations are conducted by criminals. They barge into customers house, beat their family and take away valuables in broad daylight. The banks provide them legal support and this is far too easy a method to earn quick bucks. There are hundreds of recovery agencies in Delhi and banks use them rotationally. Many people have been killed by these goons and despite public outcry, they function with impunity.

The banks support these goons and there are dozens of lawyers on bank's panel to secure their bail, exploiting the loophole in the system. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Banking Regulatory Authority of India and the Apex Court of India have been warning these banks and have fined various banks for such barbaric practices, but these banks are law unto themselves. These are mostly private banks and they have little regard for any ethics and they fear none, absolutely. HongKong (HSBC India) is the prime example of perverse banking and employs these criminals to brutally assault its customers. Can HSBC indulge in this kind of barbaric practice in Europe or America?

Reserve Bank has stipulated some stringent rules regarding recovery agency but these are not followed. Bankers call these criminal acts as their "persuasive tactics". Very few can stand up against the might of these banks so these banks are not ready to listen to even the Supreme Court of India. The situation has worsened so far that the Court has directed the police to lodge complaints against the chief executive officer (CEO) of the concerned bank, whose agent is found in this criminal act.

The court had to give this verdict after thousands of farmers committed suicide in the Vidarbha region of India. Most of these were poor farmers and had taken loan from various agencies. Unfortunately, the crop failed and in order to save themselves from the humiliation, there was dozens of suicides everyday. The situation became so grim that the Central government had to step in with a special package for these hapless victims.

These were subsequently turned into a massive Central scheme and the government waived off more than 15 billion dollars of farmers loan.

But the people living in cities are not so fortunate. Here, these criminals are protected by banks top executives.

A few days ago, a police case was filed against HSBC India and its CEO. According to the police, a person named in that First Information Report (FIR) is wanted for various heinous crimes.

The menace is only growing and unless the CEO of the concerned banks are made accountable for these criminal acts and are arrested and put behind bars, they won't stop these barbaric practices. Wearing a tie and suit and speaking English with an accent does not make them civilised. They will have to behave like civilised people and shun their barbaric impulses. They must be told that they cannot take law in their hands, directly or clandestinely without the prior permission of authorities.

The bank will also reduce the flow of loans under HSBC Pragati Finance, a product aimed at the low and middle income groups, said Naina Lal Kidwai, the HSBC country head for India on Thursday.

Most private and foreign banks are going slow on unsecured loans and fresh credit cards as delinquency levels have risen due to higher interest rates and economic slowdown. At the end of May, credit card outstanding rose around 87 per cent. Get the latest HSBC Credit Card updates here also know the clever tricks to deal with rewards point and cashback offers.

While maintaining that Indian companies were under-leveraged, the HSBC India chief said defaults on the corporate loan portfolio were virtually non-existent.

Though some banks have started going slow on lending to small and medium enterprises, Kidwai is still betting big on this segment. She estimated that bad debt has increased by around 30 per cent. Commenting on the credit quality of banks, Kidwai said, "It is certainly a tough time. There is an emphasis on results as well as the retail portfolio. Banks are vigilant on the retail front and their provisions are up."

"In the retail segment, there are concerns on consumer asset portfolio and credit cards. Credit cards were sold more than they should have been. In some cases, a person holds up to five or six credit cards," she said, while calling for sharing of the list of blacklisted card holders and outstanding dues.

"There is a fundamental weakness in the credit card business, which is lack of credit rating. There should be an information-sharing mechanism. Sharing the amount of outstanding bills would be the ideal way," Kidwai said. HSBC has issued 2.7 million credit cards so far.

While stressing on organic growth, Kidwai did not rule out the possibility of inorganic growth. "Organic growth is high on our priority. We will not ignore inorganic growth. We will look for an acquisition if the price is right and the deal suits us," she said.

The RBI has set up new norms for banks and financial institutions issuing credit cards to public. Stressing on aspects of credit card billing abuse like absolving the cardholder of any liability for a card not delivered, billing for a card which the consumer did not ask for and billing on stolen cards on the theft being reported, the RBI has set up norms to protect the consumers' interest.

The RBI has maintained a discreet but embarrassing silence over the interest charged to credit card holders on their outstandings. Interest rates have now risen from a frightening 2.9% per month to 3.2% after the recent all round hike in interest rates, and the consumer now has to pay at 38.4% simple interest per annum on his borrowings. When compounded, the interest on these transactions comes close to 50% per annum.

While taking a credit card, the consumer is told that he will get 42 days' credit on an average. However, the terms and conditions of the interest on credit cards can be labeled unfair in the mildest terms and extortionist in stronger language.

The credit card holder is offered allurements like minimum payment balance, which is usually 5% of the total monthly bill. If he falls for this trick, he is likely to get into a tangle from which he will rarely be unable to unwind himself. Interest on the balance is calculated from the day when he made the purchases on the card, and not from the day of the payment being due. What happens to the 42 day period of free credit? That is only if you pay the entire bill in time. What logic permits an institution to charge interest from the date of purchase and not from the date of payment when due of the bill?

An official declaration in the HSBC Credit Card states that if you pay the minimum amount per month, it would take you six and a half years to pay off the entire sum pending on that card statement - provided you do not make any purchases on that card thereafter. Hidden charges are another thing to look out for. ICICI Bank has come out with a cash transaction fee of Rs100 for customers who pay cash for their credit card dues. If a consumer forgets to deposit his cheque a day or two before the last day of payment, paying in cash becomes a costly affair.

Investors can retain the units of HSBC Advantage India Fund considering its improving performance vis-À-vis its benchmark BSE-200 and the dominance of blue-chip large-cap stocks in its portfolio. The portfolio comprises of over 25 per cent investment in medium and small-cap stocks (less than Rs 7,500-crore market cap).

The fund has a track record of a little over two years and seeks to invest in 'hot' themes in the Indian growth story.

Suitability and performance: The fund may be suitable for investors with a high-risk appetite looking for a fund that straddles market-caps and benefit from any broader market rally therein. On a two-year time-frame the fund has lagged its benchmark, but its one-year returns have matched it. It has also equalled the performance of diversified funds with a large-cap bias, such as HDFC Top 200 and DSPML Top 100 equity.

With its focus on blue-chip stocks the fund may benefit in the event of a bounce-back from a volatile to a possible bull phase as such stocks participate more in such phases. With the broader market taking a stiff beating in the first 3-4 months of 2008, mid-cap stocks were among the worst affected.

As a result, valuations may be attractive, generating a possible buying interest in select stocks. Investors with a low-risk appetite may, however, consider switching to HSBC Equity Fund considering its longer track record and focussed large-cap bias. The fund has significant exposures to sectors that are consumption and infrastructure development related and may pan out well over the long term.

Strategy: Though the fund's objective may sound thematic, it is fairly diversified, with 20 sectors represented across 40 stocks.

Banks, construction and petroleum are the top sectors held. But concentrated exposure has been avoided, with the top three sectors each having an exposure of around 11 per cent of the portfolio. Now it's really been easy to apply for HSBC credit card just visit here and enjoy many benefits of their all cashback offers and rewards points.

This makes it less risky than thematic funds focussed on infrastructure themes heavy on power, construction, and so on. Stock exposure is also not concentrated and a large-cap domination ensures lower impact costs and better liquidity during trading.

HSBC Holdings Chairman, Stephen Green, Friday commented: "Determining the 2008 outlook is difficult."

Green said, "The U.S. will be weak and may well move into recession - although recent indicators are sending rather mixed signals. Europe will be relatively weak - although the Eurozone has recently shown unexpected signs of resilience.

"No one knows how much this will impact Asia and other emerging markets - but overall, they will probably continue to exhibit reasonable growth. Illiquidity in the markets is a continuing concern; but the future risk will clearly be demand-led inflationary pressure, particularly in energy, commodities and food prices.

"We remain alert to the risks, but we also see opportunity ahead. We will continue to invest in more markets and businesses where we expect sustainable long-term growth, in line with our strategy", he said.

Green continued: "I believe we are entering an era in which the industry's recent propensity for high leverage - together with the extreme complexity of some investment vehicles - will no longer be acceptable.

"Growth models that depended on such leverage are now unsustainable. This means that sustainable and profitable growth will come through strategies that focus on being positioned in fast-growing markets; having good customer relationships based on fairness; running efficient operations; and a strong capital base and balance sheet.

Green added: "Our growth strategy has defined our course since the beginning of last year and it remains as valid now as it was then.

"We aim to align ourselves with three long-term trends in the world: first, emerging markets are growing faster than mature ones; second, world trade and investment grow faster than the world economy, as the world becomes increasingly interconnected; and third, longevity is increasing nearly everywhere, creating new financial services needs for billions of people.

"To maintain our position as the world's leading international emerging markets bank, we will continue to invest primarily in fast-growing emerging markets; they will eventually represent 60% of our business.

"In developed markets, we aim to use our unique global network for the benefit of our increasingly internationally connected customers. "We are moving in the same direction as so many of our customers - individuals, small businesses, big companies.

"It's true in China - where we continue to invest to support our position as the leading international banking presence. It's true in India, where we are building out in banking, securities brokerage and insurance.

"Or in the U.K., where we launched our Business Direct internet banking proposition - which gave us almost a quarter of our new U.K. customers in 2007. Or in the U.S., where, despite current problems, there are clear opportunities that play to our strengths - especially with Hispanic customers and with internationally oriented businesses - and where we will be investing accordingly in the years ahead.

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HSBC, through its group subsidiaries, is to acquire 73.21 per cent of IL&FS Investsmart Limited (Investsmart), the broking arm of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS).

Under the terms of the agreements, HSBC proposes to acquire a 43.85 per cent stake from E*Trade Mauritius Limited, an indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary of E*Trage Financial Corporation, and an additional 29.36 per cent from Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS). Both shareholders will receive a price of Rs. 200 per share for their respective stakes, making a total consideration of Rs. 1,002.55 crore (about $241.6 million).

In addition, IL&FS will be paid, as part of a three-year non-compete agreement, Rs. 82.01 crore (about $19.4 million).

HSBC will also make an open offer to acquire up to 20 per cent of the remaining shares in Investsmart. "Details of the open offer to Investsmart shareholders will be published in the Indian press and distributed to shareholders in accordance with local regulations," stated a release issued by HSBC on Saturday.

Sandy Flockhart, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Asia Pacific, said: "The acquisition of Investsmart is consistent with HSBC's stated strategy of investing primarily in faster growing emerging markets and India represents a high priority market for us. This investment is of strategic importance to HSBC as it gives us a foothold in one of the largest retail broking markets in the world. With over 20 million retail investors, India has the world's third largest investor base and the National and Bombay stock exchanges are respectively the third and fifth largest stock exchanges globally by transaction volume."

Stuart Gulliver, Chief Executive of Global Banking and Markets, said: "This acquisition fits with Global Banking and Markets emerging markets-led strategy and leverages HSBC's global distribution capabilities. We will benefit from an expanded institutional broking, equity capital markets and investment banking platform in a rapidly growing marketplace that offers great opportunity."

Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, HSBC in India, added: "Investsmart's retail brokerage business will be a great addition to our offering in India and Investsmart's local expertise and strong management team will play a key role in strengthening our service proposition in India."

HSBC will be making the acquisition through group subsidiaries, including HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private Limited, the group's securities arm in India. The agreement and open offer are subject to regulatory and other approvals.

With the acceptance of the HSBC credit cards at over100 selected post offices due to a recent agreement, HSBC credit card customers can enjoy a gamut of benefits, such as buying stamps, registered post service, speed post, EMS courier services, pre paid phone cards, email, internet, fax, IDD calls and payments of traffic related fines using their HSBC credit card.

This is in addition to cash and cheque deposits to HSBC accounts and credit card bill payment facilities made possible at these locations.

Non-HSBC credit card holders will have the opportunity of applying for an HSBC credit card through this service and enjoying a 51-day credit period. These multi faceted post offices, which spread across the districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Matale, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Badulla, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa will provide convenience and access to customers who can now choose to do their banking transactions without having to visit an HSBC branch.

An HSBC spokesperson said, 'The bank plans to expand the number of post offices accepting HSBC credit cards and other related banking services to 150 by March this year.' HSBC being the first foreign bank to partner the post office in this initiative has been acclaimed by many. It is just one of many innovative services offered to customers by HSBC, the market leader in credit cards.

In addition to its leading position in credit cards, HSBC has also built a reputation in Corporate Banking, Treasury, and Personal Banking. The bank employs over 1,500 in Colombo and maintains best practices in ten thousand offices in 82 countries. HSBC is also responsible for implementing several successful Corporate Responsibility initiatives in Sri Lanka, particularly in the areas of education, environment and livelihood development programmes.

Global banking major HSBC is keen to expand its operations in India, which is its fastest growing market in the world, a top HSBC official said.

"There are a lot of opportunities in this country and it has been our fastest growing market. We achieved 64 per cent growth in the past fiscal," HSBC's country head Naina Lal Kidwai told reporters here.

HSBC is the largest player in the asset management business, with assets worth over USD 12-billion dollars under management as of now, including the offshore business, said Kidwai.

The bank has also plans to largely explore the business opportunities in different segments, such as insurance, investment banking, Naina said.

"All these sectors still remain largely under penetrated, which promises a lot of opportunities to the participants," she said.

HSBC had entered into an insurance joint venture with Canara Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce in India, in which HSBC has 26 per cent stake, while Canara bank is the majority stake holder with 51 per cent stake.

Kidwai also pointed out the rapidly increasing prominence of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in the domestic market is contributing significantly to the national GDP.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Michael Preiss, Associate Director, Investment Advisory Group, HSBC predicted that the volatility in EMs may increase in 2008. Equities would still be the preferred asset class in 2008, he added. India may be ranged and may drift down to 19,000 levels, Preiss said.

The dollar revival may hurt liquidity flows into India, he added. He expects more moderate flows coming into India in the coming months. Preiss prefers domestic consumption and infra stories in India.

The dollar could recover 9-10% versus the euro and 15% versus the pound, he said. It may recover to 42-43 levels versus rupee, Preiss added.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Michael Preiss:

Q: What is your expectation of what 2008 might be like for emerging markets in light of what is happening in the US economy?

A: There are two things. I think there will be increasingly a lot of volatility going into 2008, especially because of the two forces that are basically battling out at the moment. One is that we have very strong economic fundamentals around the world, but we have very weak financial markets in the sense that we have this whole overhang of the banking system in the US and hence that has spread. So, we have got this good global economic growth on the one hand, and a weak banking sector on the other and that is exactly the question - which one will come out on top of this. But I think the growth argument is winning; net-net for 2008, equities still would be a good asset class to be in.

Q: What about India and the kind of gains that we have posted in 2007? How sanguine are you about this market in 2008?

A: I think it will hold up. I think it will trade down to sideways to down to rangebound basically. In the short-term, perhaps we could easily see a move back to the 19,000 levels or a 7% retracement is easily on the cards. But I think over the year, most probably, the Indian equity market will put in a very good performance because here again, when people think about India, it is a domestic growth story, and again the growth story in India is exactly what people as long-term investors would want to be invested in.

Q: The months of January and February are normally months where one sees a lot of foreign flows into India. What are you estimating this time? Do you think the US problems could keep the liquidity flows from repeating the kind of performance one saw in the previous years or do you think those flows will continue?

A: That is a good question, because when we think about it, it has to do with the dollar. A lot of the banks, including ourselves, HSBC, now feel that the dollar will recover in 2008, especially against emerging market currencies. When you look at Wall Street, a lot of economists and strategists now feel that the dollar is recovering especially against the high yielding currencies - the South African Rand, Turkish Lira, Mauritius Rupee and all those. So, if that is the case, then there is less incentive for foreigners to put money into India because the currency most probably also will depreciate in line with that.

On the other hand, the underlying stock market is still very strong. Hence, net-net, I think the equity market side will basically win out. So, I do expect inflows, but I expect them to be declining - I mean basically less inflows over the next couple of months.

source: Moneycontrol India

A social worker, George (44), from Sri Colony, Neredmet, was arrested for misusing a credit card which was delivered to her by mistake.

"Due to a mistake by the courier company, a HSBC credit card was delivered to her instead of a retired government employee, Madhu Vasu," said Neredmet inspector of police A Bala Koti.

George immediately withdrew Rs 80,000 from the ICICI ATM at Neredmet. On November 27, Vasu lodged a complaint about the fraud.

The new card will be available exclusively to HSBC premier customers for no annual fee. HSBC premier credit card cardholders will qualify for participation in the MasterCard moments service. This online service introduces the benefits and privileges being offered by MasterCard moments partner both overseas and in Japan. When traveling overseas, cardholders can avail themselves of specially selected luxury hotel resorts, spas and golf courses. In Japan, cardholders can enjoy discounts of up to 20% at select Japanese-style luxury hotels.

Goods purchased with HSBC premier MasterCard are insured up to a value of JPY3 million in the event of damage. Card issuance and management operations will be managed in corporation with Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos.

HSBC has reacted to falling customer satisfaction among small businesses by answering more calls at its centre in Leicester rather than passing them to India.

The move, which began two months ago but has just come to light, is one in a series of new initiatives designed to increase the bank's appeal to business customers. Now attractive offers with HSBC credit cards on every purchase of yours.

The decision was prompted by direct feedback about the experience of dealing with its India call centre and recent industry research by Taylor Nelson Sofres that showed a fall in customer satisfaction.

HSBC Holdings PLC, the UK's biggest bank by market value, said third-quarter profits will be ahead of a year ago, as a higher-than-expected 3.4 bln usd charge for US loan impairment is offset by revenue growth.

The US bad debt charge was some 1.4 bln usd higher than would have been expected if first-half trends had continued, the bank said. Some 700 mln usd was related to US mortgages, with the remainder made up of branch unsecured loans and card portfolios.

HSBC said its total bad debts related to the US subprime mortgage market rose to 3.4 bln usd at the end of September from 2.6 bln at the end of June.

It added it also plans to change its US credit card charges to improve its appeal to customers. It estimates the changes will cut income by 50-60 mln usd in the fourth quarter of 2007 and by 225-250 mln in 2008.

The billion dollar private equity club is growing. Notwithstanding the presence of pure play PE majors, banks are also raising $1 billion India-focused funds through their PE arms.

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), which has global assets running into trillions of dollars, is the latest one to come into India with an estimated $1.1 billion for growth stage companies and real estate ventures.

According to company officials, HSBC India has recently raised a $500 million realty fund, which will run parallel to the growth fund investments in the range of $600 million.

Naina Lal Kidwai, group general manager and country head, HSBC India, said, "At the Asia PE fund level, of which India is an arm, we have recently closed a $1.5 billion fund. According to our estimates, 40 per cent of that is expected to be committed to India."

Europe's biggest bank HSBC Holdings has sold its Marbles and Beneficial branded credit cards in Britain to specialist lender SAV Credit Ltd. for 385 million pounds.

HSBC said on Tuesday the portfolios consist of 338,000 accounts and were not a core part of its strategy to grow its card business. The bank is one of Britain's biggest four card issuers, with over 10 million cards in issue using brands including HSBC and first direct.

HSBC acquired Marbles as part of its purchase of U.S. lender Household in 2003. Marbles closed to new credit card customers in April.

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HSBC is an international banking entity with over 10,000 offices in more than 80 countries on five of the seven continents (and if anyone is going to be banking on Antarctica anytime soon, I'd bet it'd be these people). Many of the founding companies of this international group have their origins from over a century ago. Their very appropriate slogan is 'We are the world's local bank.' This is exemplified by their ability to secure a place in history as the first international bank permitted in rural China.

HSBC stands for The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the first member of what is now HSBC Group. It was opened in 1865 to capitalize on the increasing trade between the Chinese and the Europeans. Despite its name and history, three of the four countries it currently has the most branches in aren't in Europe or Asia. The five highest presence countries are, respectively, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, and France.

The group engages in commercial banking, investment banking, and private banking, along with several other activities, one of which is, of course, issuing credit cards. HSBC offers credit cards predominantly, if not completely, under the MasterCard label. Keeping true to their slogan, they have cultivated a large range of credit card offerings for most any income or social status

HSBC has launched an enhanced version of the HSBC Premier service for its mass affluent customers. The new HSBC Premier offers cross-border banking services where customers can take their accounts, credit history and banking relationships with them wherever they choose to live and work- subject of course to local regulations.

It also offers emergency encashment facilities across any Premier branch or centre, a single global emergency number which you can access anywhere in the world and swipe-based Internet Protocol phones which connects a customer to his home country call centre.

Customers will also have special benefits on their HSBC Premier Master Card credit card.

Premier customers have access to 250 international centres in major cities around the world and more than 6,000 branches with service points.

HSBC on launched world's local account designed to provide global personal banking service to 200 million mass affluent including approximately 1.4 million such consumers in India.

Rolled out simultaneously across 35 countries, 'HSBC Premier', a comprehensive global banking and wealth management services, will enable these customers to access to 250 international premier centres and more than 6,000 branches with premier service points, HSBC said in a release.

Each location will have access to all the information needed to serve customers and provide local advisory services, it said.

The service offers seamless cross-border banking and the promise that customers can take their accounts, credit history and banking relationships with them wherever they choose to live and work, it added.

The Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) is beefing up its data tracking infrastructure in India by rolling out largescale RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) traceability solutions across its departments such as home loan, mortgage, loans and credit cards sections over two years.

Since the start of the bank's RFID drive six months ago, over 100,000 tags with unique IDs have been implemented, supported by requisite handheld data retrieval devices and antennae to implement a working RFID network at the bank's Chennai locations, industry sources said.

The RFID rollout, which initially started off with a pilot of 5,000 RFID tags, has been effected in the loan and mortgage sections of the banking giant to keep track of critical customer documents.

London-headquartered financial services major HSBC is set to be the first foreign financial institution to raise an India-focused real estate fund. The banking major is planning to raise $500-600 million for the realty fund, with fund-raising likely to begin in the next few weeks, sources close to the development said.

"The bank is keen on getting a slice of the real estate market in India. However, the mandate of the realty fund would be such that a small portion of the corpus would also be invested in other sectors," said an industry source.

An e-mail sent to HSBC Global Investment Banking director and co-head Ravi Menon did not elicit a response.
The proposed fund would be the first India-focused fund for HSBC. It has been making private equity investments in India through HSBC Private Equity (Asia) Ltd.

For all the talk about whether Premier Bankcard and similar credit providers use excessive fees to prey on their customers, there are equally concerned eyes fixed on keeping the lucrative card companies at the heart of the Sioux Falls economy.

The age of credit came to Sioux Falls in 1981, when Citibank opened credit card operations here after lawmakers eased state laws that limited the interest level that companies can charge. Banks set up call centers, selling credit cards to customers throughout the country.

Washington lawmakers are pushing several bills that would limit the high interest rates and fees that Premier Bankcard, HSBC, Citibank and others use to generate profits.

Eva Gilbert, in the throes of divorce, fell behind on her credit card payments. Penalty fees swiftly kicked in, and interest rates soared. Her balance ballooned from $1,500 to $2,500 in three months and eventually hit almost $5,000.

Larry Fiddler, who had past credit problems, took a card from Sioux Falls-based Premier Bankcard. Before he used it once, he says he was blindsided with $200 in charges on his first statement - the result of set-up fees and initial charges reserved for customers with weak credit ratings.

Consider: First Premier and Premier Bankcard, with 1,105 employees, ranks ninth among employers in the city. HSBC, another credit card operation that handles some subprime lending, is 12th with 875 workers.

Citi, with 3,200 workers, and Wells Fargo, with 3,048 employees, have long been top 10 Sioux Falls employers. While neither relies heavily on subprime lending, each has the line of business and each is big in credit cards. Each has a Sioux Falls call center

30 Jul 2007 :

* Total operating income up 23 per cent to US$42,092 million (US$34,334 million in the first half of 2006).

For the half-year:

* Net operating income up 14 per cent to US$32,147 million (US$28,295 million in the first half of 2006).
* Group pre-tax profit up 13 per cent to US$14,159 million (US$12,517 million in the first half of 2006).
* Profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company up 25 per cent to US$10,895 million (US$8,729 million in the first half of 2006).
* Return on average invested capital of 18.4 per cent (17.2 per cent in the first half of 2006).
* Basic earnings per ordinary share up 22 per cent to US$0.95 (US$0.78 in the first half of 2006).

Dividend and capital position:

* Second interim dividend for 2007 of US$0.17 per ordinary share which, together with the first interim dividend for 2007 of US$0.17 per ordinary share already paid, represents an increase of 13 per cent over the first and second interim dividends for 2006.
* Tier 1 capital ratio of 9.3 per cent and total capital ratio of 13.2 per cent.

HSBC Holdings plc expects its banking business in emerging markets in Asia to grow in greater prominence in the years ahead, possibly overtaking some of the matured economies in terms of earnings contribution.
HSBC Asia-Pacific president and chief executive officer Michael R.P. Smith said it was exciting times in Asia for the banking industry and HSBC was positioning itself to take advantage of the changing global landscape in the industry.

HDFC Bank has not launched its own home loan products and instead, sells HDFC home loans for a fee. HDFC holds around 23.32 per cent in HDFC Bank. Citigroup recently increased its stake in HDFC to 12.3 per cent and nominated its representative on the HDFC board. Citi bank officially describes its stake in HDFC Bank as a financial investment.