HSBC Ejects Carbon Traders From Index

The banking giant HSBC removed two companies involved in carbon trading from its Climate Change Index on Monday because they had lost too much value.

Analysts from HSBC said the cause was mainly that governments had failed to come up with a timetable for a global climate deal at the United Nations summit in Copenhagen in December.

“Carbon trading was the major loser from Copenhagen,” HSBC analysts said in their March 21010 Quarterly Index Review. “Cap and trade needs hard targets and binding rules – and Copenhagen delivered neither,” HSBC said.'

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Northern Rock Defies Brown to Raise Mortgage Rates

Northern Rock and HSBC defied orders from the Government and the Bank of England yesterday by making their mortgages even more expensive for new customers.
Both banks put up their mortgage rates by up to 0.65 points yesterday, three weeks after the 1.5 point interest rate cut, and just 24 hours after the Bank of England said getting banks to lend to families and firms is ‘the single most pressing challenge’ facing the country.
Governor Mervyn King had also warned that nationalisation of the entire banking system would not be ruled out if lending does not pick up.

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