(16 September 2023 – Australia) NAB will close its Hong Kong (HK) office in H1 2025 as part of an extensive recalibration of the group’s regional strategy and markets team restructure.
The bank has decided instead to base its Asia operations from Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo as preferred regional centres to support its institutional banking division. The decision impacts 50 bankers servicing clients across NAB’s markets, product and trade finance units.
NAB’s announcement follows Westpac who also ceased its long term presence in HK this year to instead rely on Singapore, Shanghai and Beijing offices only. CBA and ANZ are staying put with ANZ the largest Big Four Australian presence in Hong Kong with 300 staff coupled with 300 bankers in China and 1000 in Singapore.
“The difficult decision to close our Hong Kong office has not been taken lightly. The decision was made following a thorough assessment of our strategy and reflects our ambition to align our corporate and institutional business with the greatest opportunities for NAB and our clients. We anticipate the wind down of our operations in Hong Kong will take approximately 18 months” commented NAB C&IB Asia Executive, Krista Baetens.