hsbc&pfi

[flann]

I am trying to clarify if HSBC has withdrawn from all Western European PFI projects-our local BBC regional news has said so last week but i dont see any comment to that effect from HICL(the PFI arm of HSBC).Could somebody please clarify?

[factor-fiction]

There was this in The Guardian about one PFI hospital project that HSBC pulled out of in Northern Ireland
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/feb/04/ private-finance-initiative-recession-hospitals .

And this seems to suggest they have pulled out of all PFI projects
http://www.impartialreporter.com/articles/1/35 186/

However it seems like business as usual on here: http://www.google.co.uk/finance?q=LON:HICL

[buildersmate]

I suspect what it is doing is not investing in new projects (where the risks are harder to quantify but the returns are potentially greater on the investment) and putting their resources into buying other financial houses' PFI investments - those that want 'out' of the market.
Once a PFI project is up and running (the underlying assets have been constructed), it is much easier to quantify the ongoing risks and the revenue stream flows are more easily establishable - especially to a bank that generally knows little about the mechanics of the operation that drives the payment streams.