HSBC is braced for a $1 billion hit after striking a deal to sell its business in Argentina and quit the hyperinflation-riven country.
The FTSE 100 bank said that the Buenos Aires-based Grupo Financiero Galicia had agreed to buy the division, which includes more than 100 branches and has about 3,100 employees, for $550 million.
The deal with Argentina’s fifth largest bank is likely to result in HSBC suffering a $1 billion pre-tax loss in its first-quarter results this month, although the size of the blow could change and will be known only once the sale has been finalised, which is expected within the next 12 months.
The populist Javier Milei was elected president last year
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It also will lead to the Asia-focused lender taking about $4.9 billion in historical foreign exchange reserve losses
