HSBC already has a growing corporate and investment banking business in Russia and an office there, but obtaining the license is a key step toward becoming the first British lender to build a retail presence in Russia.
After a decade building up its business in Latin America, the world’s third-largest bank has more recently turned its attention to fast-growing banking markets in eastern Europe and in Russia, where HSBC, like its British peers, has lagged continental European rivals.
HSBC retail services in the United States resulted in part from HSBC’s purchase of predatory lender Household International. As the world saw with Yukos, Russia may not tolerate predatory and questionable antics. HSBC’s exportation of the “Household Model” is widely publicized.
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