Banks with lowest/highest bankruptcy and collapse risk
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qwerty1066 wrote: »Any suggestions for banks with low risk exposure (or a list of the most/least indebted UK banks and building societies)?
HSBC and National Savings.
You are being extremely paranoid.I don’t think I am being paranoid.
The Telegraph article simply says its regulator has asked some banks to run 'stress tests' - these happen all the time. The regulator thinks of an unlikely scenario and asks what would happen if that came to pass.The Telegraph ran an article three days ago about the potential risk exposure for HSBC and Standard Chartered about a possible Chinese property crash (“UK banks asked: could you weather an Asia crash?”)
Even if HSBC lost all its business in mainland China - the share price of its holding company may go down but HSBC Bank in the UK is legally a separate company to that in China - just ultimately owned by the same group.
As others have said, HSBC were fined $1.9bn for not carrying out enough money laundering checks last year and entered into a 5 year agreement with the US to ensure it didn't happen again - hence the greater care they are now taking..
Regards
Sunil0 -
p00hsticks wrote: »Sounds to me like you're looking for a building sociey rather than a bank ....
You don't want someone to start going on about the number of building societies have had to be taken over or rescued recently..
Perhaps a Credit Union?.. though they have their problems as well..
Regards
Sunil0 -
InsideInsurance wrote: »Could be counter money laundering or fraud. Cant remember even the last time I heard of anyone asking for a bankers draft.
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/news/2013/pracaprec.pdf
As you will see, HSBC are one of the best capitalised banks according to the BoE
Are there any figures more recent that these December 2012 ones?'Yaze whit yeh hive an ye'll niver wahnt'
(From Mae Stewart's book 'Dae Yeh Mind Thon Time?')0 -
auntymabel wrote: »Are there any figures more recent that these December 2012 ones?
Potentially, the BoE site does publish them fairly often0 -
The UK Gov would never allow a major clearing bank to fold.
The chaos would be unimaginable.
Its not your personal accounts which are the problem - it's the business ones whose operations and deposits are simply gigantic.
Its all the interlinked transaction they handle for everyone including building societies.
Just think:
There would be credit card companies current accounts, supermarkets, food suppliers, petrol suppliers all caught up and effectively forced to close down with no access to their accounts. Same with water, electric, local government etc.
What with no petrol supplies, food being stripped from shelves, credit/debit cards not working the UK would revert back to a pre-industrial age of barter within about 3 or 4 days....and with effectively no police force either.
It ain't going to happen. They would nationalise it overnight if it came to it under their emergency powers legislation.0 -
I certainly wouldn't put HSBC in the same category as National Savings - the latter is 100% guaranteed by the UK treasury.
The relationship between bank holding companies and subsidiaries isn't as clear cut as you suggest. There will be agency relationships and guarantees etc between different 'children' and the 'parent' that they would not normally undertake.
I can easily see a scenario where capital held by HSBC UK is recalled back to the Far East. Remember, in the last banking crisis, HSBC UK was required to be bailed out by it's Asian parent.HSBC and National Savings.
You are being extremely paranoid.
Even if HSBC lost all its business in mainland China - the share price of its holding company may go down but HSBC Bank in the UK is legally a separate company to that in China - just ultimately owned by the same group.
Regards
Sunil0 -
The UK Gov would never allow a major clearing bank to fold.
I wouldn't hold your breath on this. Banks cannot just assume that they will be rescued, and some warning shots have already been fired on a small scale when the government told the Coop to go fix their mess themselves and leave the taxpayer alone. The US let Lehman Brothers go bust, and as you said, it caused chaos, all around the world. But we are all still alive.
Anyway, I don't understand the OP's concerns: there is the FSCS £85K guarantee, what more does the OP need?0 -
As others have said the OP is being extremely paranoid.
HSBC has introduced a whole raft of AML (anti money laundering ) procedures since July last year and there is more to come I believe. That is why they ask more questions for account opening and for transactions.0 -
auntymabel wrote: »Are there any figures more recent that these December 2012 ones?
Yes - each bank publishes their numbers quarterly.
As of December 2013, it's:
Nationwide 13.1%
Santander 11.6%
HSBC 10.9%
Lloyds Banking Group 10.0%
Barclays 9.3%
Natwest/RBS 8.6%
... so HSBC is around average, but by no means poorly capitalised.0 -
Archi_Bald wrote: »Anyway, I don't understand the OP's concerns: there is the FSCS £85K guarantee, what more does the OP need?
Perhaps he's got a million pounds and wants it all in one account - in which case NS&I is the best option (I've just opened a savings account there to hold the proceeds of my house sale for a while, it's over £85K but a long way short of a million
). 0
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