Household Companies Merged, Become HSBC

Household Finance Corp., Prospect Heights, Ill., has been merged into Household International Inc., which has changed its name to HSBC Finance Corp., according to HSBC-North America, the holding company for HSBC's U.S. and Canadian businesses.Household Finance was a wholly owned subsidiary of Household International and the owner of Household's domestic U.S. operations, HSBC-North America noted. "There is a substantial overlap of the companies, as Household Finance Corp. holds $110.9 billion of Household International's $127.8 billion assets, as of Sept. 30, 2004," the company said. "As this resulted in little difference in the reported financial results between Household Finance and its parent, the merger will eliminate the need to prepare and file two sets of largely duplicative financial statements." HSBC-North America can be found online at http://www.hsbcnorthamerica.com.