RBC to purchase HSBC’s Canadian business for $13.5B. It’s worth noting that HSBC was notorious for undercutting big bank mortgage rates.If, as expected, HSBC’s business lines are rolled into RBC’s when the deal closes — the target is late next year — such competition will be difficult to replicate.
But that analysis omits a couple of key facts, in McLister’s view. “HSBC is and has been the only competitor with low enough funding costs and big enough scale to consistently challenge the Big 6,” he said.HSBC offers are “widely used as bargaining chips” to negotiate with other banks. The Canadian unit’s contribution to the parent company came largely from its commercial banking, not its retail operations. It represented just three per cent of global customer accounts.