Do your duty-savers,support UK institutions.!

Jim_B_3

Or "scuba".

Wordplay is much more fun than banking collapse.

RayWolfe

HSBC is as British a bank as you can get. It is registered in the UK, it is traded on the London stock exchange, it is the largest bank in Europe and about the 2nd or 3rd largest in the world.
Even when it was called Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank it was still British owned.
OK?

Jonbvn

RayWolfe wrote: »

HSBC is as British a bank as you can get. It is registered in the UK, it is traded on the London stock exchange, it is the largest bank in Europe and about the 2nd or 3rd largest in the world.
Even when it was called Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank it was still British owned.
OK?

Correct. Although their very substantial holdings in Asia have insulated them somewhat from the problem of the less diversified banks in Europe.

What these events have taught me is that diversity in savings and investment is absolutely key.

barak

Limes wrote: »

The best UK financial institutions. . . what would they be then?

I agree! Who indeed!

The other night I had a dream - or was it a nightmare?

Henry VIII was our monarch.
The PM, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Treasury officials, FSA officials, BofE directors and the Boards of Directors of most of our banks were all in the Tower of London - many of them awaiting execution.

I woke with a jump, rushed downstairs and switched on the PC to check my bank and savings accounts.....

antilles

Pssst wrote: »

Surely then,in these troubled time,we the UK people,have a duty to assist ONLY the UK economy by supporting the best of the UK financial institutions?

Why put money and investments with foreign banks?

Am I missing something here? Surely if you stick your money in UK banks they will just go and invest it abroad (e.g. by buying worthless US sub-prime debt), as they currently do.

Do you really believe that your money will stay in the UK?

mobfant

I'm not totally convinced that my loyalties lie in supporting the UK banks whose greed was among the main causes for a worldwide crisis. If that happens to be the safest location then fair enough. But I can't be doing with jingoism or patriotism right now, I've got enough worries.

nicko33

Caterina wrote: »

Oh I thought that this is what is called, what is it then when a word is made up of the initials of other words? Thanks

Caterina

An "initialism" apparently
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym
although according to that, "acronym" is widely used to describe any abbreviation formed from initial letters.

MrExample

It's not like British banks are any more trustworthy. They all lie right up until the very last moment, and then the bombshell explodes.

nicko33

RayWolfe wrote: »

HSBC is as British a bank as you can get. It is registered in the UK, it is traded on the London stock exchange, it is the largest bank in Europe and about the 2nd or 3rd largest in the world.
Even when it was called Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank it was still British owned.
OK?

not really.
The headquarters are located in the UK, but it's more an international bank.

"HSBC's international network comprises around 9,500 offices in 85 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.
With listings on the London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Bermuda stock exchanges, shares in HSBC Holdings plc are held by around 200,000 shareholders in some 100 countries and territories."

Rafter

Blimey the factual accuracy of posts and scaremongering has increased dramatically on this forum in the last couple of weeks!

I agree with the original poster that at times like this it is important to support local banks and businesses who are employing staff in the UK and funding the homes and businesses we all work for.

I think the Icelandic banks saw British banking regulation and consumers as a light touch and although I'm sure they never thought their banks would fail, they have cost the UK tax payer a lot of money.

Sure, the big uk banks have made some fairly stupid investment decisions and funded some fairly stupid loans.

But the majority of the operations of the UK banks are UK based, funding UK companies and individuals, ie our neighbours, families and friends.

If you are really worried about where your money is invested then look for ethical banks like the co-op or UK building societies who don't do much except take in savings and lend it out as mortgages.

You could also look at national savings or northern rock where your money helps fund the UK government.

What seems clear is that investing in the National Bank of Nigeria (Firstsave), ICICI (an indian bank) ICESAVE/Kaupthing (Iceland) or ING even (The Netherlands) has to be more risky than banks based in the UK where the government won't hesitate to bail them out or nationalise them to protect UK savers.

If you really think the UK is going down the pan then ask to be paid in Euros or Kuwaiti Dollars and buy gold!

R.