For more information:
Wendy Walleigh
408-988-8915 x208
wwalleigh@jascc.org

Salinas, CA, September 12, 2003 - Junior Achievement (JA), the premier non-profit economic education organization, recognizes Bobby Mehta, group executive of credit card services unit of Household International, a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HBC), for his commitment and significant contributions over the past year. Bobby Mehta not only was a strong leader on the Board of Junior Achievement, but he also played a critical role in creating and strengthening the partnership between Household and JA.

"Since Mr. Mehta joined Junior Achievement's board of directors in December 2001, we've benefited from his creative contributions," says Elaine Curran, president of Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay. "Under his leadership, Household has become one of JA's largest supporters: generating significant financial contributions through local bowl-a-thons, sponsoring the Business Hall of Fame and the golf tournament and providing 79 classroom volunteers supporting three Salinas schools," adds Curran.

"I'm excited about our partnership and honored to be part of an organization that strives to educate and inspire young people of our community to value free enterprise and learn workforce skills that will improve the quality of their lives," says Bobby Mehta.

"For more than eleven years, Household has partnered with Junior Achievement to present economic and financial education classes to children throughout the United States. We are excited to help bring the program to Monterey County, specifically to Kammann Elementary School in Salinas," says Steve Gonabe, national director of human resources, Household's credit card services. "We have a long history of giving back to the communities where we live and work. Our partnership with Junior Achievement is important because we have a stake in the education of our local children - they are our future employees and customers. Household encourages volunteerism and it's great to see that our employees are getting involved and giving back to our community," adds Gonabe.

About Household
Household International is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc, one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world. Through its businesses, Household is a leading provider of consumer loans, credit cards, auto finance and credit insurance products in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. In the United States, Household operates under the two oldest and most recognized names in consumer finance - HFC and Beneficial. Additionally, Household is one of the nation's largest issuers of private label and general-purpose credit cards, including The GM Card® and the AFL-CIO's Union Plus® card. For more information, visit the companys website at www.household.com.

About Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay
Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley & Monterey Bay is the premier K - 12 economic education organization. Globally, Junior Achievement is the largest and fastest-growing nonprofit economic education organization, annually teaching 6 million elementary, middle school and high school students in over 110 countries.  Junior Achievement’s mission is to ensure that every child in America has a fundamental understanding of the free enterprise system.  Since 1953, Junior Achievement has partnered with businesses, communities and schools from Silicon Valley to Monterey Bay to teach over 350,000 young people the principles of free enterprise so that they understand business and economics and are workforce-ready. Only Junior Achievement teaches K - 12^th grade students about the relevance of school to their future success by using community and business role models to bring our classroom programs to life.   In multiple classroom visits, these volunteers use their experience and knowledge to help students become workforce-ready by applying critical thinking and school skills to solving real-world problems.  As a result, over 31,000 children from this past year will impact Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay communities as successful individuals, workers and consumers. Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley & Monterey Bay:  Impacting local economic education one classroom at a time. For more information and to get involved, visit http://www.jascc.org or call 408-988-8915.