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HSBC - Safe as houses?

HSBC, or the Hong Kong and Shanghai banking corporation was founded after the Opium War with China which Britain won. It forced China to allow Britain to sell Opium to its citizens while snagging Hong Kong and other humiliating concessions from the defeated Chinese.

HSBC was a vehicle for Britain to finance the growing trade between itself and China. Goods from the British Empire, especially India, were sold throughout Asia from its foothold in Hong Kong, which it relinquished in 1997. HSBC is the holding company of the world's largest company, and it is the world's largest banking group. Ranked by market capitalisation, HSBC itself is the world’s third-largest bank, though the company has other brands. In fact, it is worth close to twice as much as its five UK-listed rivals combined....as at 9th October 2008 anyway!

HSBC has a global business, with a high concentration of that coming from Asia, even today. If you are looking for stability and a place to park your money, you could do a lot worse than HSBC.

Of the UK-owned banks, it’s the only one to survive the credit crunch relatively unscathed. While most banking shares are down at least two-thirds since last August, investors in HSBC have actually made money over that period, when you take into account the dividends.

Better still, some of its savings rates are extremely competitive. Its cash ISA, paying 6.25 per cent, is one of the top five on the market – although you will need an HSBC current account to qualify. Meanwhile, its online saver is not too bad – paying 5.25 per cent. Beware, however, that you will lose more than half of this interest in any month where you make a withdrawal. Still sounds better than the stock market to me right now.

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