HSBC is reportedly considering the sale of its South African operations as part of a broader strategy to concentrate on its core Asian markets.
The South African business operates as a branch of HSBC’s British division. The unit provides commercial and investment banking services but does not offer personal or retail banking.
According to a Bloomberg News report, bidders based in Africa, China, and the UAE have expressed interest in buying HSBC’s South African operations.
No transaction is guaranteed to proceed, and the specifics of any possible agreements have not yet been finalised, reported the news agency.
The UK-based bank began serving the South African market since 1995. The unit’s main activity is global banking and markets.
HSBC South’s commercial banking business offers services to large local and international corporates.
Last month, HSBC divested its domestic wealth and personal banking and business banking businesses in Mauritius to Absa Bank (Mauritius).
In recent years, the bank has been reducing its operations in Western markets such as the US, France, and Canada, in favour of concentrating on Asia and regions where it has a significant presence.
In April this year, HSBC Latin America, agreed to divest its Argentinian banking operations to Grupo Financiero Galicia, for a total of $550m.
The following month, HSBC completed the sale of its Russian business unit to Moscow-based privately held commercial bank Expobank.
Additionally, in June 2024, HSBC Bank China acquired Citi’s onshore consumer wealth portfolio in China.
In July 2024, HSBC reported an after-tax profit of $17.7bn in the first of half of 2024 (H1 2024), which was 2% lower compared with the after-tax profit of $18bn in H1 2023.
HSBC’s revenue in the reported period increased 1% to $37.3bn compared with the revenues of the corresponding period in the prior year.
