HSBC to offload Korean arm, FT reports

The Financial Times (FT) believes Britain's biggest bank, HSBC, could be about to sell its Korean retail operation to local player KDB Financial.

The paper quotes Kang Man-soo, KDB's Chairman as saying talks between the two banks are "progressing well".

HSBC is known to want to get out of unprofitable markets and focus on commercial and wholesale banking.

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Interestingly, KDP wants to expand aggressively as there is a sense among Korea's political elite that the nation's banking system is too small to compete on the international scene.

Given what's happening in Europe right now, they may soon have rather a lot of acquisition opportunities.

One of those may well come from state owned, financial-collapse-icon RBS. At a board meeting later this month the beleaguered firm's Chief Executive Stephen Hester is expected to argue for a sale of parts of its Global Banking and Markets division.

Profits at the unit dropped 80% in the third quarter and the government is known to be uncomfortable with a bank it has an 83% stake in being involved in heavy investment banking activity.

There's no suggestion RBS units like Greenwich Capital or Hoare Govett are about to become Korean. But stranger things have happened.

BS