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pseydtonne  ·  3346 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: HSBC is too big to regulate

Back in the late Nineties I worked at a rival bank's data processing office. I'd investigate problems with billions of dollars in electronic funds transfers (EFTs, which were far more primitive than you'd expect) and the only cash I saw was the fiver I gave the lunch lady.

Marine Midland Bank and its parent Midland Bank in the UK had just been swallowed by the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Company, the parent's former child. Understand that the Midland Bank was one of the major banks of the UK, a fortress in The City. It was named for the Catholic canal-builders and tradesmen that could not get accounts in the Protestant banks.

So here I was, dealing with million-dollar transfers back and forth from or to them or Citibank all day. Naturally I'd taken to calling them the Hot Steamy Backdoor Company. Eventually I got others in the place to say it as well.

/vaguely relevant

//Oh, and chop up all the big ass banks. Rarrrrr. Growl. Credit unions rule!