Krataiboy

What on earth is going on with HSBC? I have been a Premier client of their Jersey-based offshore operation for more than two decades. This morning I received an email from HSBC Expat (as they are now known) informing me that as of next week no interest at all would be paid on a range of popular savings and deposit accounts, including sterling and Thai baht. No explanation, let alone an apology. Just an out-of-the-blue blow where it hurts most. When I checked the Expat website, there was (surprise, surprise) no mention of the zero interest move. New customers signing up in the next few days before the deadline will presumably only find out the hard way! A somewhat aggrieved email fired off to my relationship banking manager (RBM) in Hong Kong drew a computerised response to the effect that the office had been closed THAT VERY DAY "temporarily and indefinitely" to “protect employees and customers". A little later, the RBM emailed back to confirm that his office was indeed shut - and in any case he had been moved to a new position which precluded him from helping his former clients. Nice. When I insisted I had an urgent problem (like what to do with my savings if HSBC was going to the wall!), he agreed to get a Customer Support colleague to contact me. He turned out to be based in Singapore, but working from home and without even the use of an office phone to contact his office or clients. I am still waiting for his response. What on earth is going on? We all know the Oriental banking giant has been cutting back on staff, offices and ATM’s worldwide. But treating customers as if they don't matter could be a sign of something a lot more serious in the wind. As I write, none of the media seem to have picked up on HSBC's sudden imposition of zero interest rates - or the inevitable consequences for thousands of cash-strapped expats in Thailand already reeling from historically low exchange rates. Maybe this forum's newspaper sponsors can get their journos to do some digging.