HSBC Winds Down Monaco Operations as Principality Loses Luster

By Margot Patrick 

LONDON-- HSBC Holdings PLC Wednesday said it will exit Monaco as the wealthy principality loses its allure for some global banks.

HSBC's Switzerland-based private bank said it will refer Monaco clients to CFM Indosuez Wealth Management, majority owned by France's Crédit Agricole. Any remaining Monaco business will be wrapped up, HSBC said. The agreement covers clients with around $9 billion of assets and around 200 employees.

It's the latest exit for HSBC in a global shake-up of its operations since 2011. The bank has retreated from dozens of countries and businesses, and shrunk and restructured its private bank. The Monaco unit, acquired in 1999 through HSBC's acquisition of two banks from Lebanese financier Edmond Safra, is being shed because it doesn't fit into a fresh focus on families and affiliates of HSBC commercial clients.

"It draws to a close the restructuring of our European private banking operations, with the future focus being on growing our business with strategic clients of the group," HSBC Private Bank said in a statement.

CFM Indosuez Wealth Management, describing itself as Monaco's largest bank, said Wednesday's agreement is part of its strategy to tap ultra-high net worth individuals in key markets.

Monaco is fertile ground for private banks because its lack of income tax draws billionaires and other wealthy individuals. But banks including Credit Suisse Group and Lloyds Banking Group PLC have left in recent years to focus on customers elsewhere.

Business in the principality at times meant unwelcome attention for HSBC.

Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported HSBC in Monaco had been drawn into a legal case between an art dealer and one of the bank's billionaire clients.

And an April data leak from Panama law firm showed HSBC Private Bank (Monaco) SA helped clients set up hundreds of companies in the British Virgin Islands and other offshore centers. Such companies are commonly used in corporate transactions and wealth planning but the data leak sparked global outrage over secrecy in offshore finance.

Write to Margot Patrick at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2016 10:30 ET (14:30 GMT)

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