HSBC Financial said this week that it could not find a suitable buyer for its consumer finance business and will be closing 75 offices across Canada, putting 500 people out of work.
According to Gordon, the department will stop taking new loan applications, but will continue to service and collect existing loans and maintain a call center for customer support. The closure does not affect HSBC’s banking operations in Canada.
HSBC Financial is the legacy business of Household International, which was acquired by HSBC in 2003 and already has been wound down in the U.S. and the UK.
“Despite concerted efforts, a suitable buyer could not be found. Having exhausted all available alternatives, the appropriate steps are now being taken to wind down the business,” said Lindsay Gordon, chairman of HSBC Financial and president and chief executive of HSBC Bank Canada.
Last year, HSBC sold its Canadian full service investment advisory business to National Bank of Canada for CA$206 million (US$207.4 million) in cash. The sale followed an announcement by HSBC Canada’s corporate parent that it would cut 30,000 jobs worldwide by 2013 and sell almost half its U.S. retail bank branches.
Vancouver-based HSBC Bank Canada is a unit of HSBC Holdings PLC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services companies. It is Canada’s biggest foreign-owned bank with an estimated 8,000 employees and more than 140 bank branches.
