A public relations grinch showed up with a season’s greeting --- and more --- posted in the window of a HSBC bank office that shocked some folks, notes Grumpy Editor.
HSBC is no small-town financial institution. It's the world’s fourth largest bank
In the spirit of the season, the message conveyed thanks to London customers “who trusted us in your mortgages this year” then in smaller type warned: “Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.”
At the bottom of the message was “Season’s greetings” and HSBC in larger type with its logo.
An editor at London’s The Guardian newspaper spotted the unusual greetings message and tweeted a photo.
Founded in 1865 to finance trade between Asia and the West, HSBC serves about 52 million customers via around 6,600 offices in 80 countries and territories in North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.
FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE...
In another bank PR blunder, a Florida judge orders Bank of America to pay $1,051,000 to a Tampa couple that received 700 loan collection calls --- sometimes up to five a day --- in four years. The couple’s attorneys sued B of A under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act…Strangely, the CIA was not contacted for input in connection with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s release last week of its whopping 6,000-page report on the agency’s interrogation program (branded “torture report” by media)…No sooner did national media spotlight news that California’s three-year drought produced the worst conditions in 1,200 years (that’s going back to medieval days, or 678 years before Columbus discovered America) when the Golden State is slammed with the biggest storm in years, dumping up to 12 inches of rain --- with another storm on the way today…Latest Pew Research Center survey finds 75 percent of adults say they are “better informed” about national news stemming from daily visits to Web news sites...Forbes, now with Asian ownership and after 97 years based in New York City, this week starts editorial operations from New Jersey…For its “person of the year,” Time magazine didn’t settle on one individual for 2014. The recognition went to “the ebola fighters”…Shaking up apartment house owners, Los Angeles unveils an earthquake plan that requires vulnerable pre-1980 apartments to retrofit within five years…Seen Family Circle magazine’s staff page lately? A magnifying glass (or a visit to an ophthalmologist) is required to read names, titles and contacts.
UPS AND DOWNS. While last week’s stock market drop is attributed to a slide in oil prices, it wasn’t too far back when higher oil prices was the culprit behind a stock market drop.
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