According to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper, both HSBC Holdings and an unidentified Chinese bank are both among potential buyers for acquiring Lehman Brothers. The newspaper stated that HSBC, the Chinese bank, and several large U.S. hedge funds are negotiating to acquire a 25 percent in Lehman Brothers for $4.4 to $5.3 billion. Lehman Brothers, which currently has over $60 billion in mortgage... More

HSBC Holdings, Europe's largest bank, reported its steepest decline in earnings since 2001. The company reported net income of $7.7 billion or 65 cents per share down from $10.9 billion or 94 cents per share a year prior. The company reported huge losses related to record numbers of subprime mortgage defaults and much slower profit growth from emerging markets.

Despite massive losses related to sub-prime loans, HSBC Holdings reported on Monday that its profit rose by 21 percent in 2007. HSBC noted that its 2008 outlook is uncertain and expects current market conditions to get continue to get much worse before improving. HSBC is now forecasting a turnaround may not happen until the end of 2009.

HSBC, a London based bank, is expected to report $1 billion of bad debts from its U.S. mortgage division. The bank is expected to release Q3 earnings this week. HSBC is Europe's largest bank by market cap.

HSBC announced Friday, that it will no longer be offering sub-prime mortgages in the U.S. Over 110 American banks have revised their lending policies amid the worst housing market in 16 years. With the ending of its decision one sub-prime unit, HSBC will be eliminating 750 jobs.

HSBC has agreed to buy a 51% stake in Korea's exchange bank from private equity. Last year a similar offer for $7.3 billion dollars was blocked by the government, and the real key is rather the government will approve this acquisition.