HSBC is Closing its Local Branch. Should I be Concerned?
Posted: August 2nd, 2011 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Banking | Tags: Banking, HSBC, online banking, online savings | 1 Comment »I just received an email from HSBC stating that as ” part of a new strategy to focus on fast-growing emerging markets” they were selling their branches local to me to another bank. Part of this new strategy includes their plan to cut 30,000 jobs, but that doesn’t effect me directly. Nor does the closing of the local branches.
I don’t have my money at one of those physical branches, but I keep my emergency fund in an HSBC Direct online account. I realized early on that I simply don’t have enough in that savings to warrant chasing the interest rate from institution to intuition, and that it’s better to keep the number of bank accounts limited, so I kept my ING and HSBC accounts. HSBC had been offering a higher rate than ING until recently – HSBC now only offers 0.80% compared to ING’s 1.0%.
But I digress…
Even though I keep my money in their online account and never used a physical branch, it always gave me a cozy feeling to know that there was a branch nearby should I ever need to access one. So admittedly, it’s more of a psychological things than anything else, but with Capital One buying ING and now losing my local HSBC I’m feeling a bit more uncertain about my banking future…
PS: For those of you who are affected directly by a branch closing, here’s a link to the HSBC FAQ about the branch closings.
Personally, i wouldn’t be concerned at all. If you really are in an emergency situation, then i would not expect the nearest HSBC bank branch to be the far away and you can pop there if you need to. I find internet banking so much easier, it is rare to need to go to the branch at all (which is probably why they have started shutting them down!)