HSBC in Philippine history

HSBC OR Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. reported an increase in profits from last year—$11.5 billion in the first half of 2011—but not everyone in the bank is happy because part of the strategy is to make it lean and mean by shedding 30,000 employees by 2013.

Three decades ago, long before they opened branches all over and became “the world’s neighborhood bank,” I inquired about opening a checking account, only to be told they only entertained corporate clients.

Some years ago, HSBC Philippines launched an ad campaign using no less than the national hero as an endorser, in the same way that Sharon Cuneta peddles burgers, Aga Muhlach fried chicken, and Kris Aquino beauty products. RCBC may have the heroes name in their label, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., but Rizal was not a client of their bank nor did he endorse it as he did HSBC.

While abroad Rizal advised his family to send his allowance through an HSBC bank draft that was supposed to have better rates. While re-reading Rizal correspondence recently, I came across a letter from his brother Paciano saying that he did try HSBC, which had lower rates compared with other banks. On May 23, 1886 he wrote: “Enclosed you will receive a draft for 188 pesos against the Hong Kong Bank, in accordance to what you told me in your preceding letter. It turns out more costly than in another bank, for here the discount does not exceed 2 1/2% while in that bank it is six.”

Then as now, there was a “pera padala” system through Pinoys who worked on the ships that sailed from Manila to Europe. The problem with this system was that cash was involved and some people lost money to unscrupulous couriers. What was sent to Rizal through ship employees though were his ration of miki noodles, jars of burong manga and other Pinoy comfort food not available in Spain.

The HSBC ad campaign with Rizal reminded me of other Rizal products, like Rizal cement and Rizal matches. We have Rizal monuments everywhere. Every province, town and barangay has a Rizal street or park as if we lacked for heroes. Why Rizal all the time? Why do we have Rizal from birth (Rizal Hospital) to death (Funeraria Rizal)? Why not Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, the Luna brothers, Melchora Aquino or Gabriela Silang?

When HSBC highlighted Rizal’s request to use the bank for remittances, it downplayed the reply of his brother regarding its low rates. When looking for an endorser, HSBC conveniently forgot Emilio Aguinaldo who deposited the money paid him following the Pact of Biak na Bato when he arrived in Hong Kong for a short exile.

Many years ago, the British historian I. G. Brown told me about his brush with Philippine history while doing research in Southeast Asia. At one point he was interested in doing the prewar BBC or Balintawak Beer Co. Then while shuffling papers in the London archives relative to HSBC, he saw a brown envelope marked “E. Aguinaldo” but didn’t open it because he was researching on Burma, so he shared the reference with me. I never had the chance to check out this envelope and was glad a few months ago to receive an e-mail from historian Jim Richardson in London that reads:

“Recently in cyberspace you mentioned the brown envelope marked  ‘Emilio Aguinaldo’ in the HSBC archives, and I have at last tracked it down.  I had hoped the archives would be in HSBC’s luxurious skyscraper world headquarters in Canary Wharf, but the reality is a converted bus garage a mile or so away, next to a scrap yard guarded by Rottweilers.

“Anyway, I got to look inside the brown envelope. The documents it contains are interesting, but maybe not as interesting as we would wish. They are about the difficulties Aguinaldo and his lawyers had in extracting the funds from HSBC, which was ultra-cautious about whom they released the funds to. The documents, as one would expect, directly concern only the portion of the Biak-na-Bato pay-off that was deposited with HSBC. The headline story, I guess, is that nobody touched that portion—$200,000 between the date it was deposited in January 1898 and date it was recovered (plus roughly $8,000 interest) in May 1899. One of the documents mentions in passing that the portion deposited with Chartered Bank was recovered earlier—$50,000 prior to May 17, 1898, the remaining $150,000 subsequently.

“There is no indication or insinuation of any dodgy practices in relation to the handling of the funds. There may have been plenty of dodginess later, but apparently not in Hong Kong.”

Textbook history states that Aguinaldo deposited the Biak-na-Bato funds in HSBC and Chartered Bank, and lived on interest while leaving the principal untouched. Isabelo Artacho suggested they divide the loot and go their merry ways, but Aguinaldo refused. Aguinaldo was sued in court, forcing him to hide in Singapore, where he met the US consul who arranged his return to the Philippines on an American vessel to resume the fight against Spain.

In the four-volume “History of HSBC,” there are a few references to Philippine history, but the role HSBC played in Philippine history is a footnote that remains to be written.

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