HSBC Goes Live on Calypso's New Credit Derivatives System

San Francisco, 27 August 2002 – Calypso Technology announced today that HSBC Bank USA has gone live on Calypso's new credit derivatives system. The Bank will use the system for front-to-back processing for a broad range of credit derivatives.

"We have been eager to have the new system in place," said Sandeep Saksena, Head of Derivatives and FX IT at HSBC Bank USA. Now, we can easily manage the whole trade life cycle-structuring, valuation, credit events, payments. We've reduced our time-to-market for new products, and increased our control of the business."

The system was developed jointly by Calypso and HSBC. Calypso enhanced its application suite to support the full range of credit derivative products including basket default and total return swaps. Using Calypso's open API's, HSBC integrated the system into the bank's technical environment, and incorporated its separately developed and maintained components, such as new proprietary products and analytics.

"With this system, we can continue to use our proprietary analytics and develop our own new products, while Calypso maintains and enhances the core software," added Saksena. "We now have a solid technical infrastructure for this vital business."

"The credit derivatives market has grown to the point many players feel the early internal systems they put in place are now holding them back. Nor have existing vendor products kept pace. With HSBC's input we have built a system that will support their business today and well into the future," said Kishore Bopardikar, President of Calypso. "Technology that enables, not inhibits."

About HSBC Bank USA
HSBC Bank USA has more than 410 branches in New York State, giving it the most extensive branch network in New York. The bank also has eight branches in Florida, two in Pennsylvania, three in California and 17 in Panama.

HSBC Bank USA is the tenth largest US commercial bank ranked by assets and is a subsidiary of HSBC USA Inc, an indirectly-held, wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HBC). Headquartered in London, and with over 7,000 offices in 81 countries and territories, the HSBC Group is one of the world's leading banking and financial services organizations. For more information about HSBC Bank USA and its products and services visit http://www.us.hsbc.com/.