HSBC offers choice of transgender titles for bank's customers

HSBC is to offer its transgender community a choice of 10 new gender-neutral titles as part of its plan to improve the banking experience for customers.

The banks says its account holders will no longer have to use conventional titles such as Mr, Mrs and Ms, but instead be able to choose from a long list that includes Mx, Ind, M, Mre, and Misc. HSBC said titles chosen would be applied across customers’ accounts, including on their bank cards and all correspondence.

The new service has been developed, it said, in tandem with HSBC Pride, the bank’s internal lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employee network. The group played an advisory role in ensuring the new services reflected the “financial needs of the trans community”. It has invested in extra training for all branch and contact centre staff to ensure the improvements happen.

Stuart Barette, who worked on the project and is the trans lead of HSBC’s pride network, said: “On the day that I went into the branch to change my name and my gender I was terrified, to be honest. Coming out to anyone is difficult as you don’t know [how] people are going to react. That’s why the changes we’ve been making are so important, so that our trans customers can feel confident that they’re going to have a good experience and be speaking with someone who has been trained to better understand them.”

The announcement, which coincides with International Transgender Day of Visibility, on 31 March, is the latest initiative aimed at a community that has struggled for recognition from a variety of organisations and corporations.

Heather Williams, assistant director of insight at Manchester’s LGBT Foundation, said: “We welcome today’s announcement by one of high-street banking’s biggest players. All too often the trans community feel that their needs are overlooked when it comes to accessing even the most basic everyday services, including banking. It’s great to see HSBC take these important steps to being more trans inclusive and we would encourage more institutions to do likewise.”

In November, Metro Bank said customers and staff who did not identify as male or female could now choose non-binary as an option when filling out forms. The bank also allows customers and staff to opt for Mx when giving their title.

HSBC’s new honorifics are:

Ind (abbreviation of individual)
M
Mx (pronounced “mix” or “mux”)
Misc (for miscellaneous)
Mre (for mystery)
Msr (a mix of miss/sir)
Myr
Pr (prounced “per”, for person)
Sai (pronounced “sigh”)
Ser (pronounced “sair”).