HSBC Bank

Pancreta Bank will make the first significant and fundamental step toward the creation of a strong bank in Greece with the full absorption of HSBC's operations in the country on July 28.

This will be followed by the completion of the mergers with Central Macedonia Bank and with Attica Bank. 

Seven out of 10 employees from abroad find that in Greece they have a better quality of life compared to their country.

This is according to the 14th annual HSBC Expat Explorer Global Survey, which involved more than 20,000 executives living and working far from home.

HSBC is considering selling its Turkey business amid concerns about the country's volatile currency and economic outlook, sources familiar with the matter have said.
As part of broader cost-cutting measures under interim chief executive Noel Quinn, the bank is also seeking to sell or shrink its business in some other markets, the sources said.

A former HSBC banker has been appointed to the board of Hellenic Bank, one of Cyprus's biggest lenders, with a view to becoming chairman of the bank.

In a statement filed to the Cyprus Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Hellenic Bank said that Youssef Nasr, a Lebanese American, was nominated as a board member at its meeting on Monday.

A convicted al-Qaeda suspect who was detained by gendarmerie on April 19 while working as a village imam in the Central Anatolian province of Çankırı has admitted to involvement in the 2003 HSBC bombing.

HSBC is expected to make an announcement about plans for its Turkey unit on Feb. 22, a source close to the matter has told Anadolu Agency. 

The bank, which had said earlier it would sell its Turkey unit, will reveal its plans about restructuring in the country, according to the source. 

Turkey's Fibabanka has joined the ranks of banks interested in buying HSBC's Turkish unit, two sources close to the matter told Reuters, a business that is also being considered by ING Group.

HSBC is dragging its feet on the sale of its Turkish business to ING Group, two sources familiar with the matter said, as the bank is no longer in a hurry to exit Turkey after securing a hefty $5.2 billion for its Brazilian unit.

HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to sell its Brazilian unit to Banco Bradesco SA for $5.2 billion, retreating from the second-largest emerging market economy after years of disappointing performance.

HSBC is set to agree to sell its Turkish business to Dutch lender ING Group for around $700 million-$750 million in the next few days, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on July 22.

HSBC, the 12th-largest bank in Turkey, is selling the money-losing business in a global drive to cut costs and assets, boost profitability and reduce complexity.