I am utterly disturbed and offended by a personal experience I had to go through at an HSBC branch when I accompanied my sister-in-law, a deaf and mute 75-year-old lady, to open a current account in her name so that she would be able to apply for the widow’s pension as she lost her husband a few weeks ago.

To my surprise she was politely refused use of HSBC services for this purpose as according to the bank manager, legal advice from head office was not to open such an account unless I go there with a general legal proxy certificate from a public notary. The reason given was that they could not explain to her the obligations and responsibilities involved in having such an account.

I asked the manager whether they realised that, if they had these legal difficulties, any public notary would be faced with the same problem. I explained that a general legal proxy certificate is more serious and vulnerable than a simple opening of a current/saving account with minimal premium.

My honest opinion is that HSBC is avoiding opening ‘convenience’ accounts for pensioners as they do not make a profit out of them.

During this episode, which took us more than an hour, at no time at all did the manager or her staff even try to communicate for at least one second with my sister-in-law; she was completely ignored, as if she was not even there.

HSBC should feel ashamed and offer a public apology for insulting a disabled person in the presence of the public; the way the bank is structured, there is hardly any privacy for these cases. The manager at one stage cited the example of ‘interdicted’ persons.

My sister-in-law is included in the Electoral Register and she exercised her right to vote every time there was an election. Deaf and mute persons today are given a driving licence, and her late deaf and mute husband had been a licensed hunter for a long time.

The Roman Catholic Church did not find any problems to get them married 35 years ago, even though I consider it a more serious commitment and responsibility than to be a holder of a HSBC current/saving account. But HSBC, a world bank, in 2014, is not able to accommodate a requirement imposed on my sister-in-law to be able to receive her deserving widow’s pension. Shame!