Economy & Business - April 2024

ARGENTINA| HSBC to sell its banking operations. The UK-based bank and financial services group HSBC Holdings announced on 9 April plans to sell its business in Argentina to local private financial group Grupo Financiero Galicia for US$550m, along with a US$1bn pre-tax loss on the sale. In a statement, HSBC Group CEO Noel Quinn stated that HSBC Argentina was largely “a domestically focused business, with limited connectivity to the rest of our international network”. Quinn added that HSBC Argentina also generated “substantial earnings volatility for the Group when its results are translated into US dollars”, saying that Galicia, which is the largest financial group in the South American country, would be “better placed to invest in and grow the business”.