HSBC is reviewing its retail banking operations outside the UK and Hong Kong, a move that could see it substantially scale back operations in countries including Mexico, as it seeks further cost cuts.
The bank is looking at locations outside its core markets where it can reduce its consumer presence and focus on wealthier “premier” clients, according to people familiar with the discussions.
One of the markets under review is Mexico, a country which HSBC entered more than two decades ago but where it has a fraught history, including being fined more than $2bn by US authorities in 2012 for failures that allowed drug cartels to launder hundreds of millions of dollars.