Gianluca Lopez thought he could walk into the HSBC branch and redeem the government bonds sold to him by the bank a few years ago.
But the Italian was in for a double surprise.
He was informed the bank no longer offered stockbroking services and had to look elsewhere to be able to sell his holdings.
However, the bigger surprise came when HSBC wanted to charge him for a reference letter requested by Bank of Valletta so he would be able to sell the bonds.
“This is ridiculous,” Mr Lopez told this newspaper, adding the only reason he had to open a BOV account was to be able to redeem his bonds.
“I would have been all too happy for HSBC to sell my bonds but they are the ones who decided to stop the service. I see no reason why they should now charge me €50 for a reference letter after having encouraged me to invest this way,” he said.
Mr Lopez was sold €10,000 in government bonds in 2012 but HSBC stopped its stockbroking service last year.
When he walked into the Mellieħa branch this week, the option given to him was to go to another bank that would be able to sell the bonds. He walked the 50-metre distance to the BOV branch but the bank clerk informed him he had to open an account where the money could eventually be transferred to.
“BOV wanted a reference letter from HSBC before they could open the account,” he told this newspaper.
The Italian, who worked as a deep sea diver, has lived in Malta with his family since 2009 and has a business account with HSBC, a normal savings account and two other accounts attested to his children.
“The charge is exorbitant for a simple reference letter, which could have been an e-mail, but it would have been ridiculous even if it had been €5,” he insisted.
For Paul Abela, president of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, this case is a “typical” example of exorbitant bank charges.
“Banks have put a cost on everything, even to speak to them,” Mr Abela said, when contacted.
The GRTU has long lobbied for banks to reduce their costs and make it less difficult for businesses to have access to finance.
“They already make it hard enough to access credit; they should not be dishing out ridiculous charges at every turn,” Mr Abela said, adding he could not understand why BOV asked for a reference letter when the due diligence would have already been done by HSBC.
He said HSBC and BOV acted in a virtual duopoly that stifled competition. He urged the competition and consumer affairs authority to act on the recommendations it made last year in a report on exorbitant bank charges.
“The GRTU has heard nothing from the authority since it made those recommendations,” Mr Abela lamented.
HSBC Bank Malta was not available for comment.