HSBC

"Gibbs’ scheme was good enough for the Hong Kong Bank (now HSBC), but since it didn’t operate in New Zealand special arrangements were required. In the end, Gibbs arranged that the Hong Kong Bank send a letter of credit to BNZ for $115 million which then endorsed Gibbs Securities’ bills of exchange. The BNZ endorsement turned the bills into first-rate paper. Gibbs then used Jarden and Co. (New Zealand’s largest broking firm) to sell the paper in the money markets. In a roundabout way, then, Gibbs and Farmer were effectively funding it themselves, putting no money in, but having gained the confidence of Wardley, the Hong Kong Bank and BNZ. The whole process had been made much easier by the financial deregulation that the government had passed over the previous months; Gibbs had been amongst the first to take advantage of the new freedoms."

"In 1998, the Swedish Enskilda Bank showed interest in buying a third of Landsbanki, but the talks fell through. Later that year the government decided to publicly sell off a 15 per cent stake in each bank. The demand for shares was enormous and it was clear that the state could have sold its entire stake had it wanted to. In 2001, parliament permitted the sale of the rest of the state’s shares in Landsbanki and Bunadarbanki on the basis that the state should not be doing business that the private sector was capable of doing. In its efforts to sell its shares in Landsbanki, the government enlisted HSBC to find buyers abroad. For the time being, no attempt was made to sell Bunadarbanki."