If HSBC can surmount its current troubles, it has extraordinary opportunities. The year-long investigation was cited by the Senate as a test case. There is abundant evidence of other global banks having similar problems. Creating a compliance system that can satisfy regulation will not be cheap or simple. Companies in poor countries may find that their costs for routine transactions soar. But the rare banks that have the scale and the resources to operate in this environment will have a business niche to themselves. http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/07/hsbc%E2%80%99s-grilling
As a shareholder with a barbed sense of humour, I can laugh all the way to the bank.
Earlier post: http://atans1.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/hsbc-returned-to-roots/
