HSBC to sell $2.7 bn of loans in asset reduction plan

LONDON: HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest bank, is selling $2.7 billion of loans as part of a plan to cut riskweighted assets by $290 billion over the next three years, according to two people with knowledge of the sale.

The credits to about 69 different parties include investment-grade loans, project finance, and both performing and non-performing leveraged loans, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the sale is private. The loans are to companies in Europe, Asia and the US, they said.

HSBC’s global banking and markets division “has its own riskweighted asset reduction targets, and it’s constantly reviewing its opportunities to reduce its pool of risk-weighted assets,” said Sarah Marquer, a spokeswoman for the bank. She declined to comment on the details of the sale.

Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver unveiled a strategy last year to shrink the bank’s sprawling operations and reduce annual costs by $5 billion, pledging to cut 25,000 employees and lower the regulatory capital burden of more than $1 trillion of risk-weighted assets on its balance sheet.