I hold HBA-pG, a floating-rate preferred from HSBC. In Barron's CEO interview, referring to the sovereign debt problems for Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland, Mark Holowesko said "HSBC Holdings has exposure to those markets. What is the exposure? How much has been written down? If it's written down another 50%, what is the impact on its balance sheet? It is about 8% of their equity. That is completely different from most of the UK and French banks. It is being pushed down relative to most other banks. We think the concerns are misplaced."
HBA-pG yields @5.1% at this morning's price of $19.60. HSBC is rated A3 by Moody's, A- by S&P, and has a long list of preferreds in many flavors. |
