I could not agree more with HSBC CEO Andrew Beane’s statement that “Banking is a business that is built on trust”, (The Sunday Times of Malta, February 24), but a prerequisite is honesty; otherwise trust becomes just a buzzword, built on a very shaky foundation.

Your readers will probably recall that HSBC’s Deposit Machine had caused me serious injury, which the bank still fails to acknowledge, notwithstanding having been afforded irrefutable digital proof and supporting medical certificates evidencing it, back in 2017.

Following the considerable direct and public pressure I applied during this saga (including communications with HSBC’s Group chairman UK – Mark E. Tucker), the bank sought a meeting, intended in its own representative’s words, “To regain your (i.e. my) trust”.

From the CCTV footage finally seen, it was incontrovertibly established that contrary to the bank’s claims made in its official letter of response through the law courts, no less, I had not made simultaneous use of its ATM and deposit machines, or improper use of the latter.

In its same official letter, the bank also incredibly contended that I had refused to hand over medical certificates evidencing the wrist crush injury in question (and not a mere scratch, as the bank unfairly maintains). This when an official admitted to having copies of these certificates, which the bank’s lawyer is also aware of and yet, HSBC ignored my requests for it to acknowledge these facts and officially retract its statements.

Worse still, HSBC will not even provide me with a copy of the complete CCTV footage concerned, which speaks volumes, and labelled my legitimate demands “an impasse”, as a pretext to stop communicating about the matter.

HSBC’s continued denial of the undeniable is perhaps tactically expedient from its point of view, but I deem it shameful and totally unexpected of a bank, which has to date failed itself, far more than it has failed me; for “To err is human, but to persist in error is diabolical”.

HSBC really needs to respond publicly to this letter and come clean, if it sincerely wants to promote trust.

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