Toronto
HSBC sells Canadian arm: HSBC, Europe’s largest lender, has sold its Canadian banking business to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for $10.1bn, says Ben Martin in The Times. The deal will boost HSBC’s first-quarter results by $4.9bn on 30 April and fund an expected special dividend worth $4bn. This would be on top of the proposed interim dividend expected in June. The sale was first agreed in 2022, but the Canadian government only backed the deal last December despite criticism that it could hamper competition. To placate regulators, Canada’s biggest lender by assets promised to provide $7bn to build and renovate affordable housing, donate 1% of its domestic pre-tax net income every year, and build a global banking hub in Vancouver.
HSBC is listed in London but it was founded in Hong Kong in 1865. It sold its Canadian assets following pressure from its largest shareholder, Chinese insurer Ping An, to spin off its sprawling operation in Asia to shield HSBC from increasing tension between China and the West, protect its dividends from British regulators, and
