HSBC faces a bizarre lawsuit over the rebranding of subsidiaries. With 80% of the new HSBC signs already up in the UK outside former Midland branches, a rival financial institution, HFC Bank, has begun litigation against HSBC claiming it is damaging its franchise and stealing its hard-earned brand name.
HFC alleges that a lot of its customers are going into HSBC branches thinking it is HFC, or making telephone calls to the rival institution - unwittingly.
HFC's challenge is based on phonetics. The names don't look similar but the smaller bank says they sound very similar. Just try pronouncing them. Then try pronouncing them after a couple of pints of lager. You see?
This is a bit of a setback for HSBC and comes at a bad time given its efforts to acquire SeoulBank in Korea and Republic National Bank in New York.
At the informal shareholder meeting in Hong Kong at the end of May, a shareholder asked about the situation. HSBC chief executive Keith Whitson confirmed a writ had been issued. He could not comment further but added: "We will contest the case most vigorously."
Should HFC win, an interesting precedent will have been set.