Is the term 'financial services' rapidly becoming another of those famous Hong Kong oxymorons? A regular visitor to our fair city had reason to ponder this question when he tried to close an HSBC passbook account he no longer required.
A simple enough task, you might have thought. After all, the account had very little money left in it - 50 cents to be specific - after accumulating bank charges for years.
He stated his request and was asked for his passbook - which he'd left in Melbourne.
He was told that without the passbook it would cost $30 to close the account.
He was told to write a letter authorising the account's closure when he returned home, as a written request was necessary to avoid paying the $30 fee.
He was also 'advised' to not do anything now, wait two years and the account balance would dwindle away to nothing.
