No doubt many of you will have read the hilarious story of Brett King & his tussle with HSBC USA over their closing his business banking account (see http://goo.gl/hpnHu7). Only hilarious, mind, if you are not Brett King, one of his employees, or a shareholder in HSBC.
It’s really a mind-boggling list of sins:
- failure to check if business account holder had other accounts (he did, and one assumes profitable ones to HSBC)
- using wrong (and expensive) communication method (snail mail – Brett uses internet banking)
- failing to keep data up to date (Brett had moved – which presumably was on the public record apart from anything else)
- giving wrong advice on channel use (go to a branch when branch is closed)
- failing to monitor & respond to social media comments (if you are going to run a social media presence, you had better watch what your customers post on it)
Now – confession time. Several years ago, I actually moved my accounts to HSBC – from Barclays, as they were (at the time) even worse. And as a customer I would actually rate HSBC pretty highly – especially on internet banking, where their Global View facility works very well. But then, I’m not Brett King, who doubtless has other thoughts.
And who will no doubt be using this case to strengthen his argument for Movenbank (see https://movenbank.com).
gleedsaling 
I’d not read about Mr King before reading your blog. I’ve now read it and, inbetween the giggles, I *so* understood. My heart went out to him and I too am with HSBC!