Maven: HSBC's Rancid Rhetoric

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Investors might think a darker phrase had never been spoken than, "It's different this time." Actually, one has: "It won't happen again." Now, realizing that at certain points in business cycles, certain practices tend to repeat themselves with tedious regularity, and knowing that it's always hard for lenders not to give in to temptation, we can almost see the stink fumes rising from these two particular cans of rhetoric.

Wise investors are well advised to go into a state of extra alertness when they see or hear these rancid words.

That's why, when I saw that second set of famous last words uttered by HSBC(HBC Quote) head honcho Michael Geoghegan and then showcased in the lead -- the first four words, no less -- of a Financial Times article, well, silly me, I believed that some critical thought would be employed. I believed that maybe putting these words atop a podium was a setup for the caution to come. But no, silly Maven.

Geoghegan, who has one of The Business Press Maven's favorite CEO last names, has led HSBC for less than a year -- a blink in time. He spoke about all manner of misjudgment in the company's U.S. consumer loan portfolio. In short: If it had a pulse and wanted a house, the lender formerly known as Household Finance -- since acquired by HSBC -- would find it qualified and blithely and dumbly dole out a loan.