* Assets were valued at $3.4 billion at end 2012
* HSBC has been running down U.S. loans book
March 5 (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc has agreed tosell two portfolios of consumer loans in the United States for$3.2 billion in cash as part of a strategy to slim down its U.S.operations.
Europe's biggest bank has been looking to sell more than $6billion worth of U.S. mortgages and other personal loans as partof an accelerated rundown of its troubled U.S. loans book.
HSBC said on Tuesday that its HSBC Finance Corporation (HFC)division is selling its personal unsecured loan and personalhomeowner loan portfolios to Springleaf Finance Inc andNewcastle Investment Corp.
The assets were valued by HSBC at around $3.4 billion at theend of 2012.
HFC's chief executive Patrick Burke said the dealsaccelerated the bank's run-off of its consumer lending businessin the United States. HSBC said in November it had moved $3.7billion of unsecured personal loans in the United States to its"assets held for sale".
The bank is having to deal with the legacy of a disastrousU.S. foray in 2003 when it bought Household International for$15 billion.
Years of aggressive lending followed that deal, leaving HSBCas one of the biggest sub-prime lenders when the U.S. housingmarket crashed and saddling it with losses of tens of billionsof dollars.
When the scale of the crisis became clear HSBC shut its U.S.consumer loans business and has been running down the book.
HSBC has sold or otherwise got out of 47 businesses sinceChief Executive Stuart Gulliver took over at the start of 2011, including its recent profitable sales of its $7.4 billion stakein Chinese insurer Ping An and its $2.1 billionPanama business.
Gulliver wants to cut costs and boost profitability and hassaid a more streamlined structure is needed to better managerisk and compliance across the bank, which spans more than 80countries and 60 million customers.
On Monday, the bank reported a fall in annual profits, hit bya money-laundering fine and compensation paid to customers.
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)
