Business banking website terms and conditions

Please read the details set out below carefully before using this website (the "Site"). By accessing this Site, you agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions, important notes and disclaimers (the "Terms").

• References to 'you', 'your' and 'yours' are references to the person(s) accessing the Site and the party/ ies represented by such person (s).
• References to 'we', 'us' and 'our' are references to HSBC Bank plc.
• References to the HSBC Group of Companies are references to HSBC Holdings plc, its subsidiaries and its associated companies.

Terms
All our products and services and those of other members of the HSBC Group of Companies are subject to the terms and conditions and disclaimers of the applicable agreement governing their use. These Terms are to be read by you together with any terms, conditions and disclaimers provided in the pages of the Site. In the event of any conflict, the terms, conditions and disclaimers provided in the pages of the Site shall prevail over these Terms.

The information, material and content provided in the pages of the Site may be suspended, withdrawn or changed at any time without notice. Changes may be made to the Terms at any time without notice by updating this posting. You agree to review the Terms regularly and your continued access to or use of the Site will mean that you agree to any changes.

Security
You may register with this Site and/or one or more parts of it. When you register, you must provide accurate and complete information and update such information when necessary, so it remains accurate and complete. When you register and are accepted as a registered user of this Site, you will choose a unique user name and password and/ or other identification data.

Please use maximum caution to keep your user name, password and other identification data confidential, and log off from the Site when your session is complete to prevent unauthorised access to your information. If your user name, password or other identification data is subject to unauthorised access, you should immediately inform us.

No offer
Neither the information, nor any opinion contained in our Site constitutes an offer to sell or solicitation or an offer to buy any securities or financial instruments or any advice or recommendation with respect to such securities or other financial instruments. Before making any decision or taking any action that might affect your personal finances or business, you should always consult a suitably qualified professional advisor.

Users
The Site is currently intended for those who access it from within the United Kingdom. Because of this we cannot guarantee that the Site or the information thereon complies or is appropriate for use in other places. People accessing the Site from outside the United Kingdom are required to inform themselves about and observe any relevant restrictions.

You are wholly responsible for use of the Site by any person using your computer and you must ensure that any such person complies with these Terms.

No warranties
The following clauses exclude or limit our legal liability for the Site. You should read them carefully. They all apply only as far as the law permits, and in particular we do not exclude or restrict our duties and liabilities to you under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "Act"), or the rules and regulations for the conduct of business under the Act or under the rules of any relevant self-regulating organisation (as the term is defined under the Act) which we are subject to by virtue of our membership of the relevant organisation.

The contents of the Site are distributed to you without any warranty of any kind. We and the other members of the HSBC Group of Companies disclaim any and all warranties.

Information on the Site is provided on an "as is", "as available" basis and we do not give or make any warranty or representation of any kind, whether express, implied or statutory in respect of such information. Your use of the Site is at your sole risk. We do not represent or warrant that the Site will be available or that it will meet your requirements, that access will be uninterrupted, that there will be no delays, failures, errors or omissions or loss of transmitted information, that no viruses or other contaminating or destructive properties will be transmitted or that no damage will occur to your computer system. You have sole responsibility for adequate protection and back up of data and/or equipment and for undertaking reasonable and appropriate precautions to scan for computer viruses or other destructive properties.

We make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, functionality or performance of any third party software that may be used in connection with the Site.

Exclusion of Liability
In no event shall we or any other members of the HSBC Group of Companies be liable for any damages, losses or liabilities (whether arising in contract, tort or otherwise) including, without limitation, direct or indirect, special, incidental, consequential damages, losses or liabilities (whether in respect of loss of profits, business, opportunity, data or otherwise), in connection with your use of the Site or your reliance on or use of or inability to use the information, products and services on the Site or in connection with any failure or performance, error, omission, interruption, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus or line or system failure, even if you advise us of the possibility of such damages, losses or expenses.

Third party sites and warranties
Where we provide hypertext links to other locations on the Internet, we do so for information purposes only. We are not responsible for the content of any other websites or pages linked to or linking to the Site. We have not verified the content of any such websites. Following links to any other websites or pages shall be at your own risk and we shall not be responsible or liable for any damages or in other way in connection with linking. Links to downloadable software sites are for convenience only and we are not responsible or liable for any difficulties or consequences associated with downloading the software. Use of any downloaded software is governed by the terms of the licence agreement, if any, which accompanies or is provided with the software.

No endorsement or approval of any third parties or their advice, opinions, information, products or services is expressed or implied by any information on the Site.

Internet e-mail
Messages sent over the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure as they are subject to possible interception, monitoring, loss or alteration. We are not responsible for them and will not be liable to you or anyone else for any damages or otherwise in connection with any message sent by you to the Bank or any message sent by the Bank to you over the Internet.

Trade marks and copyright
Copyright in the pages, screens, information and material and in their arrangement included in this Site is owned by or licensed to HSBC Bank plc unless otherwise noted. We reserve all copyright, trade mark, patent, intellectual and other property rights in the information and materials contained in the Site. No express or implied licence is granted in this respect.

You may imprint, copy, download or temporarily store extracts from our Site for your personal information or when you use our products and services. You must not alter anything. Any other use is prohibited unless you first get our written permission. In particular no one may use a part of our Site on any other website, or link any other website to our Site, without our prior written permission.

HSBC is a trade mark of HSBC Holdings plc and all rights in and to HSBC vest in HSBC Holdings plc. Other than as provided above you may not use or reproduce the HSBC trade mark, logo or brand name.

Data protection
We may, as a result of your interaction with the Site, hold and process the personal information you provide. This will be entered onto our group database and will be used to provide the services requested, to evaluate the effectiveness of the site and for statistical analysis. The information may also be used for fraud prevention, audit and debt collection purposes. If you give us false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud, we will record this.

Relevant information may also be exchanged with members of the HSBC Group and others to provide you with services. We may use other members of the HSBC Group and/or third parties (in jurisdictions inside or outside the European Economic Area where there may be less stringent data protection laws) to process information on our behalf. Wherever it is processed, your information will be protected by a strict code of secrecy and security which all members of the HSBC Group, their staff and any third parties are subject to and will only be used in accordance with our instructions.

We may contact you to ensure that the information you have requested has been received.

Under data protection legislation, you can ask in writing for a copy of certain personal records we hold about you. We may make a charge for this service.

To help us to continually improve our service and in the interests of security, we may monitor and/or record your telephone calls with us.

You should also read our Privacy Statement.

Your use of the Site
You may not use the Site for any purpose which is unlawful, abusive, libellous, obscene or threatening. We reserve the right at any time to immediately suspend the provision of all or any part of this Site to you and/ or block your access to this Site.

Use of Communities, Discussion Forums, Bulletin boards, Chat rooms etc

Communities, Forums and communications – this site may include communities, discussion forums, bulletin boards, chat rooms, review services or other forums (Forums) that permit interaction between users and third parties including without limitation, other members of the HSBC Group, experts, specialists and special guests. Such parties may be able to use any such Forum to post reviews or comments on existing Forum contributions or other content, messages, materials or other items. In these terms, Communications means materials posted to Forums by users, experts, specialists, special guests or other parties or material otherwise exchanged between them, using the Site.

Your use of the Forums. You are solely responsible for use of Forums and use them at your own risk.

You must comply with any rules posted by us in connection with or on a Forum and by using any Forum you expressly agree not to:

• Post, link or otherwise publish any Communications that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, indecent, pornographic, lewd, suggestive, harassing, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, inflammatory, fraudulent or otherwise objectionable, or that infringe copyright, confidentiality, privacy or other rights of third parties or that contain any form of illegal content.
• Disguise the origin of any Communications.
• Post, or otherwise publish any Communications unrelated to the topic of the Forum concerned
• Restrict or inhibit any other user from using the Forums.
• Collect or store other users data or delete any other attributions legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in any materials forming part of any Communications.
• Post or transmit any Communications that contain software viruses, files or codes designed to interrupt, destroy or limit functionability of this Site or any computer software or equipment
• Post or transmit any Communications that contain promotions, political or religious campaigning, advertising or solicitations, or would constitute, encourage or provide instructions for a criminal offence, violate the rights of any third party or that would otherwise create liability or violate any local, state, national or international law, or impersonate any person, entity or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
• Post, or transmit any Communications containing private information of any third party or containing content that in our sole judgment is objectionable or which restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying any Forum or this Site or which in our sole judgment expose us or any other member of the HSBC Group or the users of any Forum or any other part of this site to any harm or liability.

Our dealings with personal information
If you post any personal information about yourself or any third party then you grant your consent and confirm that you have obtained the consent from any such third party to us dealing with and transferring such information in accordance with these terms.

Your Responsibility for your Communications
You are solely responsible for the content of your Communications. By submitting messages to any Forum you agree to indemnity us and the other members of the HSBC Group, from all claims, costs and expenses (including legal expenses) arising out of any Communications posted or published by you that are in breach of these terms.

Our Liability for Forums and Their Content
We take no responsibility for any Communications posted, stored or uploaded by you or any third party, or for any loss or damage thereof. We do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of any Communications. Some users may post Communications that are defamatory, misleading, untrue or offensive. You bear all risk associated with your use of the Forums and you should not rely on Communications in making (or refraining from making) any specific financially related or other decisions.

Contributions to Forums by Special Guests etc
Special guests, experts, specialists and other parties selected by us or other parties may contribute material to the Forums in order to stimulate discussions and ensure smooth running of the Forums. The opinions of these special guests, experts, specialists and other parties are their own and are not necessarily endorsed by us. Such parties should not be considered by you as professional advisers.

Our rights in respect of Forums
Although we have no obligation to screen, edit or monitor any of the Communications or other content posted to or distributed to any Forum or other part of the Site, we reserve the right, which we may exercise at our sole discretion without notice, to delay posting, reject, remove move, reinstate, screen or edit without notice to any party any Communications (or any parts thereof) posted or stored on the Site at any time, and for any reason and to terminate or suspend your access and use of all or any parts of the Forum and/ or any other part(s) of this Site. In relation to the above you waive all rights (if any) which you may have whether arising from a right to freedom of expression or privacy or otherwise to object to any actions or omissions by us as described above. You are solely responsible for creating back-up copies of and replacing any Communications you post or store on this Site at your sole cost and expense.

Disclosure of Communications
In order to co-operate with legitimate governmental or regulatory requests, subpoenas or court orders or to protect our and our user's systems, we may access and disclose any information we consider necessary or appropriate, including without limitation, user profile information, IP addressing and traffic information, usage history and posted Communications. We may also disclose any such information to any third party/ies which we may use form time to time to provide on our behalf any services or contributions in relation to any Forum. Our rights to disclose any such information shall prevail over any terms of our Privacy Statement.

Rights of Users in Communications
By posting or distributing Communications to or through the Site you grant us and all other members of the HSBC Group a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty free, perpetual transferable, irrevocable and fully sub-licensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, distribute, publish, create derivative works from and publicly display and perform such Communications throughout the world in any media now known or hereafter devised; and the right to use (or not use) the name that you submit in connection with such Communications, as we see fit. In addition:

• You waive all moral rights (if any) that you may have as an author or otherwise in regard to any Communications.
• Communications submitted by you and other users, including specialists, experts, special guests and other parties will be considered non-confidential and we are under no obligation to treat such Communications as proprietary information and without limiting the foregoing we reserve the right for us or any other members of the HSBC Group to use any Communications as we or they deem fit, including, without limitation, deleting, editing, modifying, rejecting, delaying posting or refusing to post it.
• We may record and archive all Communications subject to observance of any applicable data protection and other relevant laws.

Report abuse
NOTIFICATION BY YOU OF MISUSE OF FORUMS. If you believe that any Communication infringes any legal rights that you may have or know of or suspect any unauthorised posting of or attempt to post any Communications, you should notify us immediately with specific details by email at the following address: networkadmin@hsbc.com.

You agree to comply with all reasonable requests from us, the police, or any statutory or regulatory authorities in identifying any unauthorised users of any Forum.

Important Notes
The Terms include the Important Notes set out below. You should read them.

The information in this Site is based on our understanding of current law and Inland Revenue practice at the time of going to press. Future changes in legislation, tax levels and practice could affect the information in this Site.

HSBC Bank plc is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme established under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. In respect of deposits with a UK office, payments under the Scheme are limited to 100% of the first £2000 of a depositor's total deposits with the bank and 90% of the next £33,000, resulting in a maximum payment of £31,700. Most depositors, including individuals and small firms, are covered. The Scheme covers deposits made with the offices of the bank within the European Economic Area and deposits denominated in all currencies are treated alike. Further details of the Scheme are available upon request.

We reserve the right to decline an account application. Our credit facilities are subject to status and our mortgages are also subject to security. With a mortgage or other secured loan a charge will be taken over the property.

YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOAN SECURED ON IT.

With any investment related to stocks and shares it is possible that its value may fall below the amount originally invested as the price of units and the income from them can go down as well as up. This may also happen as a result of changes in the rate of exchange where overseas securities are held. Also past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Because of the difference between the buying and selling price of units/shares which will particularly impact on the value of your investment in the short term, you should regard unit trusts, Open Ended Investment Companies ("OEICS"), and life assurance bonds as medium to long-term investments.

With variable rate savings accounts, the interest paid by the bank will alter from time to time. This means that when the interest rate rises, the interest you receive will increase, but it will become less when the interest rate falls.

Gross: The rate before the deduction of tax on interest on savings.

Net: The rate after the deduction of tax on interest on savings, currently 20%. Higher rate taxpayers will have an additional liability.

AER: Annual Equivalent Rate, the true gross return taking into account the frequency of interest payments.

Private clients services are provided by HSBC Trust Company (UK) Limited.

HSBC Bank plc is a member of the HSBC Bank marketing group. We sell life assurance, pensions and collective investment schemes and advise only on our own range of these products.

Further information and written details about our product and services are available from any of our branches or from Customer Information, PO Box 757, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP2 4SS.

Not intended for Children
The Site is not intended for use by minors.

Governing law
The Terms are governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the courts of the above jurisdiction will have non-exclusive jurisdiction in respect of any dispute which may arise in connection with the Terms or your use of the Site.

Should you wish to contact HSBC Bank plc please refer to the Contact Us menu which can be found on each page of this Site.