Dear Sir, Person or Misc... bank plays safe with gender-neutral titles
IT WON’T stop them sending curt letters when your account is overdrawn, but from today one bank is letting you choose the title with which they admonish you.
HSBC is allowing online customers to select one of 10 gender-neutral titles, as alternatives to the standard designations of Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms.
The bank said the new appellations would allow people who do not identify as a particular gender, or who do not want to be identified by gender, to “choose the title that works for them”.
HSBC, which earlier said it plans to close 62 UK branches this year, announced the move to coincide with today’s International Transgender Day of Visibility.
The new titles will be applied across customers’ accounts, including their bank cards and correspondence.
They include Mx (pronounced mix or mux), Ind (an abbreviation of individual), Misc (short for miscellaneous), and Mre (a shortform of mystery).
Other choices include Msr, a combination of Miss and Sir, and Pr, pronounced “per”, which is short for person. HSBC will also allow the titles Myr, Sai and Ser.
Of the new options, only Mx, which is being considered for inclusion in the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, is commonly accepted among government departments and by some other banks. The online reference Wikipedia lists only Mx, Misc and Ind in its section on gender-neutral titles.
HSBC said it was training staff at its branches and call centres on the new titles, and that it had “streamlined” the process for people who want to change the gender on their existing accounts. Customers need only to bring a passport, driving licence or birth certificate with evidence of the gender change, to update their details at one of the remaining branches.
Brighton and Hove council is believed to be the first public body to have allowed the use of the title Mx, in 2013.
International Transgender Day of Visibility, now in its ninth year, is an annual event originated in America, aimed at raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people.