Can you take HSBC seriously?

I have to declare an interest and I have a few shares in one of the world's biggest banks, HSBC. I have sold some shares when it became obvious (despite the vehement denials) that it was going to have a rights issue (capital raising operation)and that the U.S interests were going to be severely pruned. It looks like the dissident shareholders based around Knight Vinke were right all
along.
www.searchaccountant.co.uk
Unfortunately, there seems to be no mea culpa over the troubled purchase of Household International. I suppose the bank's customers could not be expected to cough up for this acquisition indefinitely. One rationale was that it gave HSBC access to emerging customers (Hispanics) in the United States. I suppose the American operation was just engulfed by the subprime mortgage disaster.
The world's local bank must be scratching its head about operations in Mexico, which is suffering badly economically and socially. A past Citigroup president famously said countries did not go bust. He forgot to mention places like Argentina, which seem to go bust all the time. Or at least really hit the buffers. It might be a close run thing for the United Kingdom.