(31 July 2025 – Australia) HSBC has mandated Citi to divest its Australian retail banking division encompassing A$18 billion of deposits and A$40 billion in loans within weeks.
NAB is believed to be best positioned to acquire the HSBC business following its acquisition of Citi’s Australian retail bank for A$1.2 billion in 2021. ANZ is also in the hunt despite its recent Suncorp acquisition following a drawn out challenge from Bendigo Bank while Westpac cannot be excluded. The sale takes places alongside Macquarie Capital selling RACQ bank and AMP Bank and BoQ emerging as targets if buyers emerged as a result of APRA capital adequacy challenges.
HSBC’s A$486 million of credit card debt to households is more than that of Bendigo Adelaide Bank and Macquarie and the bank is favoured by migrants from Asia and wealthy travellers who use its multi-currency accounts.
HSBC’s move is consistent with recent global strategic changes as the group under CEO George Elhedery ascribes greater priority to home markets in the United Kingdom (UK) and Hong Kong with heightened focus on Asia in particular. HSBC has held a banking licence in Australia since 1986 when Treasurer Paul Keating opened the banking market to foreign competition.
HSBC withdrew from US retail banking in 2021 after divesting sections of that division to Citizens Bank and Cathay Bank. The bank also disbanded its US SME business banking division in May, walked away from Wall Street by ceasing advice for corporate dealmaking in the US and Europe and sold its Canadian operations to RBC.
Elhedery has undertaken a thorough restructure of the group to boost profits by removing duplicated roles and reallocate resources to strengths where the bank outperforms major rivals.
“We are streamlining our geographic governance structures, reducing them from five regions to two, and creating four new business lines including Hong Kong, the UK, corporate and institutional banking, and international wealth and premier banking. Our goal is to saving US$300 million in 2025 and cut US$1.5 billion from our annual cost base by the end of 2026” Elhedery commented.