BREAKING Israel kills top Hezbollah figure in Beirut strike, Reuters sources say
Top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed on Friday in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, two security sources told Reuters.
HSBC Bank Canada is up for a potential sale as global banking giant HSBC Holdings Plc faces pressure to shake up operations from its largest shareholder.
"We are currently reviewing our strategic options with respect to our wholly owned subsidiary in Canada," Gillian James, senior media relations manager at HSBC, wrote in an email.
"The review is at an early stage and no decisions have been made."
National Bank analyst Gabriel Dechaine said the review of HSBC Bank Canada, the country's seventh largest bank by assets, comes as HSBC faces pressure from Chinese insurer Ping An, its largest shareholder, to break up the bank.
The news has generated "a lot of excitement" he said in an analyst note.
"Considering the rare opportunity to acquire a large Canadian lending institution, we believe every Big-6 bank would evaluate this asset."
HSBC Canada's division has a large commercial banking business, which made up about two-thirds of the $490 million in profit before taxes it pulled in for the first half of 2022.
The bank, while one of HSBC's smaller foreign subsidiaries, was the third largest contributor to HSBC's commercial banking profits in 2021 to make it a "disproportionately profitable business," Dechaine said.
While all of Canada's big banks would likely take a look, he said Royal Bank was the leading candidate as it has the scale to take on what could a more than $10-billion takeover.
Dechaine noted TD Bank Group and BMO are already in the midst of multibillion-dollar takeovers in the U.S., making them less likely to be potential buyers.
Another foreign bank buying the division looks unlikely as European and U.S. banks have had a track record of leaving Canada, while a Chinese buyer would face regulatory challenges, he added.
HSBC has been winding down its exposure in North America. Last year, the bank sold off its U.S. mass market retail division, cutting its branches in the country from 148 to 58.
HSBC Canada has more than 130 branches, with a concentration in British Columbia. Since the bank first established itself in Canada in 1981 it has snapped up more than a dozen banks and trusts in Canada to grow to its current size.
In its latest quarterly filings, HSBC said the Canadian division was helpful as it could leverage its footprint across all key trade corridors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct.4, 2022.
Top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed on Friday in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, two security sources told Reuters.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
Smoke is rising over Lebanon’s capital of Beirut Friday after Israel’s military struck southern suburbs – a dramatic escalation in a year-long period of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.
A paid passenger on an expedition to the Titanic with the company that owned the Titan submersible testified before a U.S. Coast Guard investigatory panel Friday that the mission he took part in was aborted due to an apparent mechanical failure.
Following the MIND diet for 10 years produced a small but significant decrease in the risk of developing thinking, concentration and memory problems, a new study found.
The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.
Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.