Expect to hear a bit more about Bernie Madoff this week. Under federal bankruptcy law Irving Picard, the trustee in charge of tracking down Madoff's many missing assets, has two years from the initial bankruptcy filing to file claims for recovery. Since Madoff's filing date is considered December 11, 2008, that means we should have a busy few days ahead of us. In the past week Picard has already sued JPMorgan for $6.4 billion, UBS for $2 billion and, yesterday, HSBC for another $9 billion bringing the total he is claiming on behalf of victims to more than $32 billion (including the 19 suits he's already filed). more ›

Worse bank trip ever: A woman headed to her HSBC at 5 Penn Plaza and found herself in the middle of a bank robbery. So she tweeted it: "my bank was just held up- with me in it. HSBC 34 and 8. also my whole trackball is GONE!!! im locked in the bank still." She continued with updates: "they want to question us. i didnt even notice this gappenning while i was standing there," "cant figure out how to call work without a trackball... police just arrived. maybe theyll let me go now," and "they wont let us leave the bank." Her most recent Tweet: "Thanks Tmobile for providing help with my shitty phone while im stick in a bank hold up. thats sarcasm." Well, the upside is she's safe. The downside is that TV shows and Hollywood will have to incorporate Twittering hostages when depicting bank robberies. Update: Hopefully the witnesses can all leave now—Tweeting witness says "they totally got the guy. cop said he was lazy. walked right into several Penn station security cams." more ›

HSBC's net profits in 2008 were down a breathtaking 70% from 2007, dropping from $19.13 to $5.73 billion, the London-based bank announced today. During a conference call with reporters, CEO Niall Booker said the bank will scale back its U.S. consumer-lending operations, closing its HSBC Finance Corp. and Beneficial brands, causing a loss of 6,100 jobs. (According to Crain's, there are two locations of each in NYC.) The retail-bank-branch and credit card business in the U.S. will remain intact, but HSBC's 2003 expansion in the consumer loan market is being written off as an epic fail. In a statement, HSBC said, "Management believes it will take years before property values return to the levels seen prior to the decline and, as such, has concluded that recovery in the sub-prime mortgage lending business is uncertain and the industry is unlikely to stabilize for a number of years." Executives also confirmed today that HSBC, which is Europe's biggest bank, lost about $1 billion to Bernard Madoff's fraud! more ›