HSBC POOLED FUND PORTFOLIO – CLASS ACTION

December 2006 -- The class action law firm Merchant Law Group LLP has launched class actions against HSBC Investments (Canada) Limited (formerly HSBC Asset Management Limited) concerning allegations the defendant, in about 2001, changed non-discretionary investment limits in certain pooled fund portfolios and invested clients’ monies over the authorized limits.

All Canadian investors who prior to 2001 purchased any of the following pooled fund portfolios, and held those portfolios through the year 2001 are eligible for the class action:

•  “Conservative Growth of Capital”
•  “Growth of Capital”
•  “Registered Conservative Growth of Capital”
• “Registered Growth of Capital”

If you own (or have owned) one of these portfolios, you may be eligible to join this class action, and there is no cost to join this class action.

Merchant Law Group LLP has 12 offices across Canada, with lawyers practising law in six provinces and an American state. Tony Merchant, Q.C., and his firm are well known for their involvement in Mass & Class Action cases in Canada, including class proceedings regarding Complete Contact Lens Solution, Silicon Breast Implant, Winners/HomeSense, HSBC Mutual Funds, Various Cellular Phone Fees, Molson-Coors Merger, Conrad Black/Hollinger, GM Gasket Manifolds, Lead Paint in Toys (and similar consumer products), Menu Foods, Paxil, Vioxx, Agent Orange, Métis Veteran Benefits, Cryptosporidium Water, Sony, Residential School litigation, CPR Anhydrous Ammonia, and cases regarding ISM Information Security, Tundra noxious gas emissions, Zonolite, Canadian Wheat Board Pool transfers, and various other cases. Tony Merchant is known to be one of Canada’s most active litigators with more than 600 reported cases in leading Caselaw Journals, having argued thousands of cases before the Canadian and American Courts, in Trial and Administrative Courts, and the Courts of Appeal of various American and Canadian jurisdictions, the Federal Court of Canada, and the Supreme Court of Canada. Tony Merchant, Q.C., has a long history in pursuing public policy cases and is a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (M.L.A.).