LONDON (Alliance News) - HSBC Holdings PLC is renewing its efforts to simplify and shrink its operations by speeding up plans to withdraw from certain emerging markets, according to a Financial Times report on Saturday.
The FT report, which cited people close to the bank, said that HSBC's new strategy will result in an exit from retail banking in Brazil and Turkey, as well as from other operations that aren't performing to a level deemed adequate. The group's investment banking arm, known as global banking and markets, also faces cuts, according to the report.
Questions about HSBC's ability to return the sort of returns on equity that can attract investors have been brought into focus after the banking group's annual results for 2014 disappointed the market, with pretax profit falling to USD18.68 billion from USD22.57 billion in 2013.
The group's return on equity dropped to 7.3% in 2014 from 9.2% in the prior year, a fall accompanied by a cut in its previous target of between 12% and 15% to one of more than 10%.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/85642fcc-e50d-11e4-bb4b-00144feab7de.html#axzz3XnOazf25
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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HSBC Holdings (HSBA)