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A woman has told how she lost her life savings after she fell for a sophisticated text scam. When Suni Wan received a message from her bank HSBC saying that there was some fraudulent activity on her account she called them straight back. The text did not seem unusual as it appeared in the same thread that her bank usually messaged her in. The message told her that a new device had logged onto her account and if it wasn’t her to call back immediately. The man on the other end of the phone said that an S8 had logged...

Ten members of the banking community are working with the New York Innovation Center (NYIC), which is part of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to explore the feasibility of the regulated liability network (RLN) — an interoperable digital money platform. The proposed RLN would use distributed ledger technology to improve financial settlements and would include central banks, commercial banks and regulated non-banks, the participating firms said Tuesday (Nov. 15) in a press release. “The 12-week PoC [proof of concept] will test a version of the RLN design that operates exclusively in U.S. dollars where commercial banks issue simulated...

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced the addition of banking giant HSBC to his list of firms deemed to be "boycotting" energy companies and therefore subject to divestment of state funds. Hegar said the bank's updated policy restricting financing of oil and natural gas was cause for its addition to the list, which brings Texas's blacklist to a total of 11 global financial firms, including investment giant BlackRock. “HSBC’s new energy policy is a prime example of a broader movement in the financial sector to push a social agenda and prioritize political goals over the economic health of their clients. HSBC’s...

Silicon Valley Bank’s UK branch is under new management. While reportedly a separate entity, walled off from the calamities of its US-based operations, it’s not a barrier impervious to the fallout that comes from a total collapse. In the US, SVB closed its doors and is under the direction of the FDIC. This news comes after a run occurred, sparked by the bank’s announcement that they needed a massive capital raise to cover the mountains of losses incurred by the tech industry’s drumming on Wall Street; SVB was leveraged heavily in this sector. It was where startups went and got...

LONDON — HSBC on Monday announced a deal to buy the U.K. subsidiary of collapsed U.S. tech startup lender Silicon Valley Bank, following all-night talks. HSBC confirmed that its U.K. ring-fenced subsidiary, HSBC UK Bank, had agreed to acquire SVB U.K. for £1 ($1.21). The assets and liabilities of SVB U.K.'s parent company are excluded from the transaction. The acquisition "strengthens our commercial banking franchise and enhances our ability to serve innovative and fast-growing firms, including in the technology and life-science sectors, in the U.K. and internationally," said HSBC Group CEO Noel Quinn. "SVB U.K. customers can continue to bank...

Multinational investment bank HSBC announced that it will no longer finance new oil and gas projects in order to meet the green agenda goals of globalist elites. The largest bank in Europe, which has nearly three trillion dollars in assets, has said that it will no longer finance new oil or gas fields to supposedly meet its commitments to achieving the UK government’s goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050. According to a report from the BBC, HSBC came to the decision after “follow[ing] consultation with leading scientific and international bodies”. In 2020, the British bank...

HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, announced Wednesday it will no longer finance new oil and gas fields as part of its updated climate strategy. Climate campaigners welcomed the moved saying HSBC provided a new baseline for other major banks but urged the bank to go further. The bank said it would still provide financing to existing fossil fuel projects “in line with current and future declining global oil and gas demand.” It would also continue to provide finance and advisory services to energy sector clients but will assess the companies’ plans to transition to clean energy. “It sets a new minimum...

Storm over banker's anti-climate change tirade: HSBC faces calls to sack financier over speech saying 'who cares if Miami is underwater' and 'nutjobs are always warning about end of world' A top HSBC banker went on a tirade about how climate change affects finance Stuart Kirk's commented that 'nutjobs are always warning about end of world' The head of responsible investing added 'who cares if Miami is underwater' Banking chief Nicolas Moreau said Kirk's opinions 'do not reflect views of HSBC' A major bank is facing calls to sack one of its top financiers over a climate change tirade he...

Loyal members of Chinese Communist Party are working in British consulates, universities and for some of the UK's leading companies, The Mail on Sunday can revealLeaked database of 1.95m registered party members reveals how Beijing's malign influence now stretches into almost every corner of British life, including defence firms, banks and pharmaceutical giantsSome members, who swear oath to 'guard Party secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life...and never betray the Party', are understood to have jobs in British consulates Loyal members of the Chinese Communist Party are working in British consulates, universities and...

Philip Delves Broughton, in Monaco for the trial of Ted Maher, finds that the principality is a rotten little retirement home for fat catsIt was bucketing down in Monte Carlo and the casino was empty. Croupiers sat forlornly at the tables in the gilded Salle d’Europe and in the large private rooms at the back, overlooking a sheer drop to the Mediterranean. Several of them were horsing around with the sticks they use to gather in chips. The restaurant tablecloths were starched and laid with silver, but the waiters had no one to serve. A few old birds in dodgy...

If the United States doesn’t follow through to revoke Hong Kong’s special treatment, Beijing may be emboldened to take aggressive actions against Taiwan. May 22, 2020 will go down in history as an important milestone. On this day, Beijing announced it will impose a new national security law on Hong Kong, which will effectively end the “One Country, Two Systems” era.Beijing made the move at this week’s “Two Sessions,” annual legislative meetings of two organizations: the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). In the past, more than 5,000 delegates, representing the elites in China,...

When the British handed over Hong Kong to China in 1997, China promised to respect it’s independence for the next 50 years. The shorthand for that plan was “one country, two systems.” But the two systems part of the plan could effectively come to an end tomorrow. China has tried and failed in the past to exert more control over Hong Kong, but this time it seems prepared to simply bypass Hong Kong’s government entirely and pass the new law via the mainland’s one party system: Security rules proposed by the Hong Kong government in 2003 would have empowered...

* HSBC on Tuesday reported first-quarter earnings that missed expectations after the bank set aside more money for potentially larger loan losses due to the coronavirus pandemic and weakening oil prices. * The bank, Europe’s largest by assets, said its pre-tax profit fell 48% year-over-year to $3.23 billion in the first quarter of 2020, below an average analyst forecast of $3.67 billion. * HSBC shares in Hong Kong were flat after the earnings release when trading was resumed following a lunch break. The bank said it increased its expected credit impairment charges by $2.4 billion to $3 billion “due to...

Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was "feeble," "barely articulate" and "stressed" moments after a hospital room confrontation in March 2004 with Alberto R. Gonzales, who wanted Ashcroft to approve a warrantless wiretapping program over Justice Department objections, according to notes from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III that were released yesterday. One of Mueller's entries in five pages of a daily log pertaining to the dispute also indicated that Ashcroft's deputy was so concerned about undue pressure by Gonzales and other White House aides for the attorney general to back the wiretapping program that the deputy asked Mueller to bar...

"We don't know the thoughts of the shooter" Those the words of Dayton, Ohio Mayor Nan Whaley at a news conference following a mass murder attack.... The attack in Dayton within hours of the El Paso mass murder attack where 20 are reported dead and 26 wounded. The attacker, Patrick Cruisus, has expressed views hostile to mass immigration, major corporations and in defense of environmental protection.... The White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said on the ABC 'This Week' program Sunday morning that: "crazy people....should not be able to get guns".... Iran says it seized an oil tanker in...

A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer pleaded guilty today to conspiring to communicate, deliver and transmit national defense information to the People’s Republic of China. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Director for Counterintelligence John Brown of the FBI and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the plea.

Three Pakistani brothers who managed the IT affairs for several Democratic government officials were relieved of their duties in February on suspicion that they accessed specific computer networks without permission, also known as hacking. Imran Awan, who started working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, received $164,600 in 2016, with close to $20,000 of that coming from Wasserman Schultz. His brother Jamal, who started working as a staffer in 2014, was paid $157,350.12 in 2016. Abid, who started working in 2005, was paid $160,943 in 2016. Hina Alvi, who was employed as a staffer from February 2007, was paid 168,300 in...

The taxpayers’ dollars confiscated from Congress is “not the highest of our concerns,” Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said in an interview about the case of IT staffer Imran Awan, his brothers Abid and Jamal, and their wives Natalia Sova and Hina Alvi. The Awans were highly paid IT administrators working for dozens of House Democrats until Capitol Police began probing them earlier this year. The family is accused of stealing equipment from more than 20 congressional offices and accessing the House IT system without members’ knowledge. “The American people deserve to know the truth to this; it is a big...

Multiple reports have detailed the equipment and nearly $6 million a Pakistani family of IT specialists allegedly took from the U.S. government while running computer networks for numerous congressional Democrats. But that’s only money and equipment, says a U.S. congressman who contends that the biggest problem is the classified information to which the Awan family had access. The taxpayers’ dollars confiscated from Congress is “not the highest of our concerns,” Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told WND in an interview about the case of IT staffer Imran Awan, his brothers Abid and Jamal, and their wives Natalia Sova and Hina Alvi.

None of the six officially vetted IT firms that do work for congressional offices employed Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) now indicted IT aide, Imran Awan. This is odd, as congressional offices are given a pre-approved list of tech firms to work with for IT support. U.S. Senate offices typically have a fulltime employee on staff that handles IT, but most of the 435 congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives don’t require that much technical support. They typically hire IT professionals from an approved list of companies as they need them and often use them as “shared” employees with...