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By Tim McMillan

HSBC Holdings is the largest bank in Europe and consistently ranks as one of the most important banks in the world. How unfortunate, then, to see its unabashed hypocrisy toward Canada.

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In the summer of 2018, HSBC announced a new energy policy under which it would stop providing financial services to a large portion of the Canadian energy industry. The move directly targeted Canada, despite this country’s record of environmental innovation and protection. The bank said its energy policy was designed to encourage economic development without having an unacceptable impact on people or the environment. Activist groups cheered the move and wagged their fingers at Canada’s energy industry, urging the country to get on board an ill-defined anti-industry movement.

Little did we know that soon after waving goodbye to Canada, HSBC would fly into the open arms of Saudi Arabia, a regime notorious for a poor human rights record and lacking Canada’s stringent regulations and high environmental standards. You may have heard that the world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, based in Saudi Arabia, has been preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) of shares.