Reuters
Analysis-As British lender HSBC considers Canada unit sale, antitrust issues loom
As British lender HSBC Plc explores a potential sale of its Canadian unit, lawyers and analysts say the country’s concentrated banking market could discourage big domestic banks from bidding as the government has charged the antitrust regulator to push for more competition. An HSBC deal would be the first big banking sale in a decade in Canada, one of the world’s most concentrated markets where the top six banks control about 80% of total assets, according to Reuters calculations, about double the saturation of the United States where the top five banks control 40%. The market is so saturated that Canadian banks are expanding overseas to reduce their exposure and the Competition Bureau Canada was granted more powers to prevent further concentration.
