New York: Financial services major HSBC Holdings Plc is in advanced talks to acquire the retail and commercial banking assets of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in India, China and Malaysia, says a media report.
Attributing to a person familiar with the situation, the
Wall Street Journal said HSBC is in advanced discussions to
"buy the retail and commercial banking assets" of RBS in
China, India, and Malaysia.
"The emergence of HSBC as the leading bidder comes after
exclusive talks between RBS and Standard Chartered PLC over
those assets have stalled over price," the daily said.
The publication noted that it is not clear that Standard
Chartered is out of the race completely, but its bid appears
to have lost momentum.
According to the report, the assets are the final piece
of an auction that began earlier this year to sell off RBS'
retail and commercial banking assets across the region.
"The British lender wants to trim its operations to repay
a UK government bailout during the financial crisis, shedding
some operations it acquired as the leader of a consortium that
acquired Dutch financial services firm ABN Amro," it added.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 23:41