Canada HSBC Finance Corporation has a Canadian operation which it inherited from
Household International. Since the HSBC acquisition the Canadian subsidiary works more closely with
HSBC Bank Canada. The unit offers
mortgages,
personal loans and
insurance through 75 branches in 10 provinces and via merchant relationship with stores such as
The Brick,
Henry's, and
Arctic Cat. HSBC Finance Canada ceased operations on March 21, 2012. 75 branches were closed immediately and approximately 500 staff members were laid off.
United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, HFC Bank is a sub-prime consumer lender. Its branch network originally consisted of around 125 Beneficial Finance branches. Since Household International's acquisition by HSBC, HFC Bank has worked increasingly closely with
HSBC Bank plc particularly for cross-selling purposes. HFC also provides retail finance for stores such as
John Lewis,
Currys &
PC World. In October 2007, the Marbles & Beneficial branded credit card portfolios were sold to
SAV Credit. In January 2008, the
Financial Services Authority fined HFC £1,085,000, for failing to take reasonable care in its sale of Payment Protection Insurance. In June 2009, HSBC announced that 100 branches would be closed, including all six in Scotland, with all branches closing the following month. The remaining branches would be closed to new business, and eventually close altogether. The company website is now offline, it previously stated;
our branches have been closed since July 2009.
United States Beneficial and HFC Operating under the HFC and Beneficial names, HSBC Finance Corporation was the second largest
consumer finance company in the United States, with more than 900 branches in 46 states. It provided a variety of
real estate secured and
unsecured loans to primarily
sub-prime customers, as well as increasing numbers of other product lines such as
auto loans and
service plan policies. On 2 March 2009, it was announced that HSBC would no longer accept new business from HFC/Beneficial, and would eliminate 6,100 jobs.
Decision One Decision One mortgage company directly originated real estate secured loans sourced through
mortgage brokers. This subsidiary was shut down September 2007 due to the
sub-prime mortgage meltdown. Approximately 1,500 employees were affected.
HSBC Bank Nevada NA HSBC Bank Nevada issues a range of HSBC-branded credit cards, to both credit card only customers and customers of
HSBC Bank USA.
Private label cards HSBC was the third-largest issuer of
private label credit cards in the United States, including cards for more than 70 active merchant relationships, including
Best Buy,
GM,
Yamaha,
Kawasaki,
Neiman Marcus,
Polaris and
Saks Fifth Avenue. Most of its card portfolio was sold to Capital One in 2011.
Other The techniques and experience of HSBC Finance Corporation are being increasingly exported to other HSBC markets, for example, the establishment of
Proa by
HSBC Bank Argentina, and new business being established in
Poland by
HSBC Bank Polska. ==Bibliography==