Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Europe's biggest bank HSBC is leaving the banking market of Turkey, the bank's Turkish office said in a message June 9.
In the coming days, the bank will announce the exact date of its leaving.
This decision by HSBC is due to the plan to reduce its staff, which will cover 50,000 employees of the bank worldwide. The staff reduction is carried out in an effort to improve the business profitability.
HSBC announced the intention to sell its loss-making offices in Turkey and Brazil.
HSBC entered Turkey's banking market in 1991. In 1999, HSBC acquired the Turkish Demirbank. At the moment, the bank has 298 branches in Turkey.
HSBC is represented in 73 countries. The last four years, the British banks have been forced to pay additional annual tax, which depends on the amount of banks' borrowings. As a result, over the past year, HSBC paid about $1 billion in taxes.
It is expected that by late this year, HSBC will make a decision on moving its headquarters from London to Hong Kong.
Turkey's banking sector is one of the leading sectors of its economy. Some 49 banks operate in Turkey - 36 of them are commercial and 13 are investment banks.
Edited by SI
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