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Strickland saved by economical release

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP

Spare a thought for Hongkong Bank chairman John Strickland. He has been having a pretty tough time this week trying to work out the difference between US$1.8 billion and $2.5 billion.

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Mr Strickland was not mincing his words on Wednesday, telling a press briefing that the HSBC Group has a $2.5 billion exposure to the troubled Indonesian market.

However, this figure had magically shrunk by $700 million in just one day.

A press release put out by HSBC yesterday stated that the group's exposure to Indonesia was, in fact, $1.8 billion, and not $2.5 billion.

The clarification did everything, however, to disguise the fact that the wrong figure had been announced by the Hongkong Bank boss.

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Amazingly, Mr Strickland was not even mentioned in yesterday's release, despite his apparent $700 million over-estimate.

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