HSBC to withdraw from wealth and retail banking in NZ

Head of communications Jonathan Williams says the amount of investment required, particularly in technology, was another factor behind the decision.

The retail side of the business has been “consistently profitable” and contributed $8.7 million, or 13.3% of pre-tax profit in calendar 2022, the NZ bank's last disclosure statement shows.

“It's not so much about the actual size – our market share in the NZ market is pretty small. We're more of a niche player in this market,” Williams says.

The disclosure statement showed HSBC's mortgage book here was $1.8 billion at Dec 31 with $1.78 billion of that being loans with a less than 80% loan-to-valuation ratio.