London-based bank HSBC has sold all its Argentina operations to the country’s largest private financial group, Galicia, for US$550 million.

The package includes the bank and HSBC’s asset management and insurance firms, a communiqué by the company’s Argentine subsidiary said. The final value will be adjusted by the gains and losses of HSBC’s securities portfolio from December 31, 2023, to the date the transaction is closed.

HSBC, the ninth-largest bank in Argentina, has over 100 branches in the country, 3,100 employees, and roughly a million clients, the company said. In 2023, it had a US$239 million profit, not counting taxes. Up to February 29, 2024, it had total assets of US$4.7 billion and a total equity of US$1.4 billion.

Galicia had 360 branches and three million clients in the country as of 2020. Some HSBC branches will be closed, Banco Galicia’s general manager Fabián Kon said in an interview with Infobae. “Branches in close proximity will be unified,” Kon said.

HSBC’s chief executive officer Noel Quinn called the sale “another important step in the execution of our strategy”. “[It] allows us to focus resources on higher-value opportunities across our international network,” he said, adding that the company is “committed to Mexico and the U.S.A..”

“HSBC Argentina is a business primarily focused on the domestic market, with limited connectivity with the rest of the international network,” he added. “In addition, given its size, it also generates substantial volatility in the group’s profits when its returns are converted into U.S. dollars. Galicia is better positioned to invest in and grow the business,” he said.

The transaction is expected to be completed within the next year.