* HSBC ends long struggle to exit France retail
* Cerberus snapping up European banks
* My Money to resurrect former CCF brand
(Adds further details)
By Lawrence White and Gwénaëlle Barzic
LONDON/PARIS, June 18 (Reuters) - HSBC has agreed to sell
its French retail bank to My Money Group, which is backed by
private equity firm Cerberus, ending a long effort by the
British bank to dispose of the struggling business as it focuses
on Asia.
The deal announced by My Money on Friday sees HSBC
take another significant step in a wider retreat from
slow-growing European and North American markets where it has
struggled against larger domestic players.
Meanwhile Cerberus continues to snap up banks in Europe,
where the U.S. based private equity fund already owns stakes in
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.
The deal will see My Money acquire HSBC's 244 branches,
around 3900 staff and 24 billion euros in assets, creating at a
stroke what My Money described as a new challenger bank in
France's crowded retail banking landscape.
"Our aim would be for the bank to return to profitability,
three years after we have taken control of it," My Money Chief
Executive Eric Shehadeh said in a statement.
HSBC shares were down 1.8% at 1236 GMT, having slipped ahead
of the formal announcement of a deal that had already been
widely reported.
CCF COMEBACK
My Money said it will resurrect the Credit Commercial de
France (CCF) brand, which HSBC bought for some 11 billion euros
21 years ago as it attempted to gain a foothold in one of
Europe's biggest markets. It also plans to invest 200 million
euros in the HSBC unit's technology infrastructure.
Under French law, the two parties have to consult employees
on the deal, and if HSBC and My Money decide to proceed it could
be signed in the third or fourth quarter of this year, with
completion due in 2023.
HSBC will retain other parts of its French business
including its investment and business banking units.
The deal marks HSBC's second exit from a major Western
market this year after it sold its U.S. retail banking
businesses, as Chief Executive Noel Quinn cuts his losses in
markets where HSBC has long struggled to be profitable.
Low central bank interest rates and competition from
domestic players have combined to make traditional
deposit-taking retail businesses unattractive in many developed
markets in recent years, especially where banks are subscale.
HSBC put its French retail business under “strategic review”
in September 2019, with a sale launched in December the same
year, as it abandoned a long struggle to generate sufficient
profits from the unit.
The business made a loss before tax of 236 million euros for
the financial year ended 31 Dec 2020, My Money's statement said.
HSBC struggled to attract interest as bidders fretted at the
heavy restructuring assumed to be necessary, and complex talks
with local regulators. French banks, which initially studied the
dossier, all walked away.
(Reporting by Lawrence White and Gwenaelle Barzic;
Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Alexander Smith)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)