1. Three US counties sue HSBC
Three Atlanta-area counties have filed a lawsuit claiming that British bank HSBC cost them
hundreds of millions of dollars in extra expenses and damage to their tax bases by aggressively
signing minorities to housing loans that were likely to fail. The Georgia counties’ failure or
success with the relatively novel strategy could help determine whether other local governments
try to hold big banks accountable for losses in tax revenue based on what they claim are
discriminatory or predatory lending practices. Similar lawsuits resulted in settlements this year
worth millions of dollars for communities in Maryland and Tennessee. Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb
counties say in their lawsuit, which was filed in October, that the housing foreclosure crisis was
the “foreseeable and inevitable result” of big banks, such as HSBC and its American
subsidiaries, aggressively pushing irresponsible loans or loans that were destined to fail. The
counties say that crisis has caused them tremendous damage. “It’s not only the personal
damage that was done to people in our communities,” said DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff
Rader. “That has a ripple effect on our tax digest and the demand for public services…
timesofmalta.com
http://www.allplacedout.com/three-us-counties-sue-hsbc/
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