Tuesday, June 1, 2021
In a May 26, 2021, statement, the company disclosed plans to transition its 148 retail branches, directing East Coast customers to Citizens Financial Group Inc. and West Coast customers to Cathay General Bancorp. Approximately 24 locations will be retained by the company as international wealth centers for elite clientele, HSBC noted, adding that the deals will be subject to regulatory approval.
Noel Quinn, group chief executive of HSBC, commented that the bank is looking forward to changing its focus from retail banking to wealth management, stating its U.S. retail unit lacked the scale to compete. "Our continued presence in the U.S. is key to our international network and an important contributor to our growth plans," he said. "This next chapter of HSBC's presence in the U.S. will see the team focus on our competitive strengths, connecting our global wholesale and wealth management clients to other markets around the world."
Hussein Ahmed, CEO and founder of Oxygen, a digital banking platform, suggested that HSBC's move was part of a strategic shift and should be no surprise to the fintech community. "I think there's more to it than an inability to compete at scale," he said. "The retail banking sector is quickly moving towards a digital future and away from the branch model, which is what [HSBC's] business was built on."
Michael Roberts, HSBC's chief executive officer, U.S. and Americas, characterized the move as an important step toward becoming more focused, simpler and sustainably profitable, adding that HSBC will continue to have a presence in North America.
"A strong, internationally connected US business is an important part of HSBC's value proposition, and we are excited to be focusing the US business in areas of competitive strength," Roberts said in a statement. "At the same time, I am very pleased that we were able to execute this strategic repositioning at pace. It was also important for us to find buyers who would be a good fit for our customers and employees."
Parag Khanna, author of The Future is Asian, predicted that the 21st century will be known as the Asian century, following predecessors America (20th century) and Europe (19th century). The region represents 50 percent of the world's GDP and two thirds of global economic growth, he noted. Its footprint extends from the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey in the West to Japan and New Zealand in the East, and from Russia in the North to Australia in the South, he added.
Khanna further noted that Western economies will contribute only $1 trillion of the estimated $30 trillion in middle class consumption between 2015 and 2030; Asia will contribute the rest by producing, exporting, importing and consuming more goods than any other region. In addition, he added, Asians trade and invest more with each other than they do with any other economy.
"Asia has several of the world's largest economies, most of the world's foreign exchange reserves, many of the largest banks and industrial technology companies than most of the world's biggest armies," Khanna wrote. "Asia also accounts for 60 percent of the world's population. It has 10 times as many people as Europe and 12 times as many people as North America. As the world population climbs toward a plateau of around 10 billion people, Asia will forever be home to more people than the rest of the world combined." 
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