HSBC is not considering a sale of its New Zealand business, contrary to a report in the London-based Financial Times, its local branch said yesterday.
The paper said the bank would be reducing its Asian operations, selling or closing seven Asian retail businesses, from Pakistan to New Zealand.
One of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations, HSBC has pulled out of retail banking in Japan and Thailand and sold its Asian insurance businesses as part of a broader strategic overhaul under chief executive Stuart Gulliver.
Peter Wong, chief executive of HSBC in Asia, told the newspaper the bank had decided to focus on six core Asian markets outside Hong Kong producing the fastest profits growth - Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
But Rachel Broadmore of HSBC in Auckland said a sale of the bank's New Zealand business was "definitely not the case".
