Shameless Bankers

British based bank HSBC has been fined £10.5m and ordered to pay £29.3m in compensation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for the mis-selling  of investment bonds to elderly people in care.

In other words, in almost Dickensian fashion, they have been conning the elderly and infirm.

2,485 customers of the bank's subsidiary company, NHFA, were advised to invest in the bonds to finance their care costs. Unfortunately, many of these people, with an average age of 83 and who were already in care, had a life expectancy of less than 5 years and started to cash in the bonds sooner than expected. meaning their capital was quickly eaten away. 87% of NHFA customers were sold inappropriate bonds, resulting in the largest retail fine to date from the FSA.

HSBC, said it identified problems at NHFA and had closed the business to new customers in July, and alerted the FSA. HSBC said it was 'profoundly sorry'. NHFA was the leading supplier of independent financial advice on products to help pay for long-term care, with a market share of nearly 60%.
According to the BBC, HSBC reported pre-tax profits for the first six months of the year of $11.5bn (£7bn), up 3% on the $11.1bn the bank made a year earlier.

After everything that's gone on, they are still taking the piss....... I'm sure you will agree, it doesn't get much lower than targetting the elderly

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16032593
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/8935361/HSBC-fined-10m-for-mis-selling-to-pensioners.html