First off I have to admit that I merely have only a few games to my name in this sportive discipline requiring a good eye and geometric precision. Yet I think a parallel can be drawn with the ruses one is compelled to resort to flush out required information. It is to HSBC’s good name that it is a pioneer in Corporate Social Responsibility, not only in being among the first to introduce this in Malta, but also as regards the amount it spends out of its own funds and not through claiming as a figure that which schoolchildren and others put in an Istrina piggy bank. What I have not yet found out is the amount it recovers through the ‘charity’ it forks out by way of loan uptake for example for the cancer patient accompanying relatives apartments in London etc. Be this as it may, what shareholders find also of interest is that while they do not begrudge the many thousands spent on CSR, some or more of them would have been very happy to be granted a very inexpensive wish at the last AGM, mentioned by one shareholder, namely the removal of the e6 charge for online banking. Granting such a simple request would have convinced more of us to take up online banking and cleared somewhat the impression that the HSBC Board can and will show initiative and is empowered to take it despite meeting just 4 times a year and having the AGM almost completely addressed by the CEO and not by the chairman!

G. Bonett

Marsalforn