HSBC share price: Lender to spin off Singapore retail unit into local subsidiary

HSBC Holdings Plc (LON:HSBA) has announced that it plans to spin off its Singapore retail banking and wealth management division into a locally-incorporated subsidiary from May 9. Other lines of the bank’s business in the city-state, such as commercial banking, private banking and global banking and markets, would continue to operate under the existing Singapore branch, the lender said.

The move comes after Singapore’s central bank last year identified HSBC as one of seven lenders which had large retail operations in the city and needed to incorporate locally. The UK’s largest lender was amongst the four foreign banks on the list.
HSBC’s chief executive officer for Singapore, Guy Harvey-Samuel, said that the move reflected the success of the bank’s retail business in the city and “demonstrates HSBC’s strong and long-term commitment to the Singapore market”.

“Singapore is a top-seven priority country for the HSBC Group globally and we will continue to invest in our business here. We are excited about new opportunities to further expand our presence,” he added, as quoted by local newspaper The Straits Times.
Meanwhile, Matthew Colebrook, the head of the Singapore retail unit said that the bank would ensure that the transfer of customer accounts to the subsidiary is a seamless and “largely behind-the-scenes” process.
In today’s trading, HSBC shares were up 0.8 percent at 463.00p, as of 13:13 GMT. The stock has fallen 13.6 percent since the start of the year and the company’s market capitalisation currently stands at £89.8 billion.
As of Feb 04, 2016, the consensus forecast amongst 27 polled investment analysts covering HSBC Holdings had it that investors should hold their position in the company. The same consensus estimate has been maintained since January 20, 2016, when the sentiment of investment analysts deteriorated from “outperform”.
As of 14:47 GMT, Friday, 05 February, HSBC Holdings plc share price is 459.80p.