HSBC to sell home loans for $3.2 bln

The Asia-focused lender said in a statement on March 5 that its HSBC Finance Corporation subsidiary has entered into a deal to sell its personal unsecured loan and personal homeowner loan portfolios to SpringCastle Acquisition, a division of Delaware-based Springleaf Finance and Newcastle Investment Corp. HSBC added that the transaction should be completed in the second quarter of this year. The announcement came one day after the bank revealed that net profits sank 16.5 percent in 2012, due to US money-laundering fines, mis-selling scandals, rising taxation and a huge accounting charge. Profit after tax fell to $14 billion last year from $16.8 billion in 2011. HSBC’s performance was hit by a $1.9-billion fine to settle US allegations of money laundering that were said to have helped Mexican drug cartels, terrorists and Iran