Thank you very much for your reply. 

That makes perfect sense. My only queries would be, I can log on to my online banking on the app on my phone without using the card reader, so I thought I would be able to do this on QB as well. 

Also, I have been trying the 'direct feeds' option for a few days but it asks you to input a 'unique reference number'. HSBC say QB need to provide this and QB say HSBC need to provide it. Been going round in circles for about a week now. 

Thank you for your help.