HSBC UK Bank Plc · DRN-6181591

The complaint Mr R complains that he was unable to send $500 to an account abroad from his HSBC UK Bank Plc Global Money account. The details of this complaint are well known to both parties, so I won’t repeat everything again here. Instead, I’ll focus on giving the reasons for my decision. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. I’ve carefully read all of the correspondence both parties have sent this Service. That being said, my decision won’t address every point or comment raised. I mean no discourtesy by this, it simply reflects the fact our Service is an informal dispute resolution service, set up as a free alternative to the courts. So, in deciding this complaint I’ve focussed on what I consider to be the key issues. The scope of this decision It might help if I explain from the outset that it’s not our Service’s role to regulate businesses, this would be for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). My role is to reach a finding on whether HSBC has treated Mr R fairly in relation to the matter he’s complained about or whether it has made any errors. And where there are mistakes, to consider how best to try to put Mr R back into the position he would have been in had errors not occurred. At various stages of our investigation, the Investigator has asked Mr R for clarification on what complaints he’d like our Service to consider and we have received unclear or inconsistent answers. With this in mind, I’d like to start by outlining what it is I’m considering in this decision. I am considering the following complaint issue as it was covered in the final response letters (FRLs), issued on 24 October and 30 October 2025, and Mr R has asked our Service to look into it. In summary, this is about: • The difficulties Mr R had registering his broker’s bank to his HSBC global money account in order to make a payment. I will also consider Mr R’s complaint about: • That fact the $500 payment Mr R attempted to make to his broker on 20 November 2025 wasn’t successful and was returned to his account on 18 December 2025, less $40. And that’s because HSBC has consented to our Service looking into this despite the fact it hasn’t provided a response to this complaint within its FRL, given it is very interlinked with the first complaint point.

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I note Mr R has also mentioned a series of other concerns at various points in his correspondence with our Service, including points that he has not raised clearly as complaints with HSBC, such as the fact he feels HSBC should transfer $124,000 to the IBKR account for him and concerns around a $10,000 payment which failed more recently. It might help if I explain that there are rules that govern our Service, known as the Dispute Resolution (DISP) Rules, which are found in the FCA handbook. DISP 2.8 states that our Service can only consider a complaint if the respondent (in this case HSBC) has already sent the complainant its response or a complaint has been made to HSBC, eight weeks have elapsed and no response has been received – that is unless the business consents. So, any further complaints Mr R wishes to raise would need to be considered separately. If Mr R wishes HSBC to investigate further complaint points which it has not yet considered, he needs to contact HSBC clearly outlining what his formal complaint points are. Difficulties registering recipient bank I’d like to be clear that some of the evidence I’ve been provided here paints a confusing picture as to precisely what happened. However, my role is to reach a finding on the actions of HSBC based on the available evidence, which is what I’ve done. The evidence I’ve seen indicates Mr R first reached out to HSBC about setting up the broker’s recipient bank as a payee on 12 October 2025 via live chat. Mr R’s broker was based in the USA. HSBC provided clear instructions on how to do this but Mr R then encountered difficulties and explained the BIC he was entering into his app wasn’t being accepted. The HSBC agent replied asking Mr R if he could use the IBAN instead and Mr R decided to email HSBC. He explained his problem and included a screenshot of the details of the bank he wanted to add, which I’ll call bank J, and the details he provided for this bank were UK details. HSBC replied on 16 October 2025 after it had looked into things and explained that the problem was Mr R was using a UK BIC and IBAN but with a location of the USA. It advised Mr R to discuss this discrepancy with the beneficiary bank so the correct options could be chosen to ensure any subsequent payment was successful. And I think this was reasonable advice based on the information it had been sent by Mr R. Mr R disagreed with HSBC’s assessment of the situation and sent screenshots to HSBC on 16 October 2025 which he believed showed the problem was with the account number he was trying to enter when adding his broker account as a depositor. He had been told by the broker to use one of two account numbers, one included letters (which HSBC’s app wouldn’t accept), and the other was under 9 digits (which HSBC’s app also wouldn’t accept). Mr R told HSBC he’d also tried to add his broker’s account as a payee, but he couldn’t proceed beyond the correspondent bank stage as he was being told additional information was required. He asked HSBC for help to resolve this. HSBC responded on 17 October 2025 and explained it couldn’t recreate the issue Mr R had experienced. It urged Mr R to check the beneficiary information with the broker as it was unable to tell him what to input. This was reiterated in the FRL HSBC sent Mr R on 24 October and the FRL it sent on 30 October. Looking at the screenshots and emails Mr R provided to HSBC, I think they painted a confusing picture to HSBC about how Mr R was trying to pay his broker. The screenshot he sent to HSBC on 12 October 2025 indicated the broker’s beneficiary bank was J. However, the screenshots he sent HSBC on 16 October included details of a different bank, which I’ll call C, based in the USA. In the email of 16 October 2025 Mr R also suggested the

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correspondent bank for C was J. But when Mr R eventually added and attempted to make the payment to his broker, he emailed HSBC the same day and said: ‘For some reason the account number does not include the letter "U". Also the bank is [C] instead of [broker]. Can you please confirm everything is in order?’ So, the evidence indicates that Mr R provided HSBC with conflicting information about the bank he was attempting to pay. Based on the available evidence, it seems to me that HSBC gave Mr R reasonable advice based on the information he provided and I am not persuaded it was responsible for the difficulties he encountered. It would be for the broker to advise Mr R what account number to use to ensure funds arrive safely, even if HSBC’s system didn’t accommodate an account number with letters, or with under 9 digits. The failed $500 payment I’m satisfied HSBC made this payment in line with Mr R’s instructions which is what I’d expect. I have seen evidence that these funds were subsequently returned to HSBC and the reason provided for the return was ‘account number format invalid’. But as outlined above, I’m not persuaded it was responsible if the details Mr R inputted when he set up the payee were incorrect. I think it gave him clear, fair and not misleading information, explaining that it couldn’t advise him what information to input in order to successfully make this payment and guiding him back to the broker to resolve things. I have seen that these funds were returned to HSBC less $40 for ‘charges’. It is not uncommon for banks to charge fees for making payments and the fact such fees may be applied for transactions outside the UK was outlined within the HSBC personal banking terms and conditions and charges document. Given this, and the fact I don’t think HSBC is responsible for the fact this payment was unsuccessful, I won’t be requiring HSBC to refund this fee. My final decision My final decision is that I don’t uphold this complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr R to accept or reject my decision before 27 April 2026. Jade Cunningham Ombudsman

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