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HSBC, one of the world's largest banking groups, is exploring a sale of its Türkiye operations as part of a sweeping cost-reduction strategy being drawn up under interim Chief Executive Noel Quinn, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The London-headquartered lender will seek a local buyer for its Turkish banking business, though the sources cautioned that no final decision has been taken. A spokeswoman for HSBC declined to comment.
A withdrawal from Türkiye, where HSBC has operated since 1990, would mark one of the bank's most significant country-level exits in recent years and signal a further contraction of a network that once spanned the globe. HSBC is also looking to sell or scale back operations in Armenia, Greece, and Oman — markets where it maintains small-scale presences that have struggled to compete with domestic rivals.
The bank has already dramatically reduced its Turkish footprint. As recently as 2013, HSBC operated roughly 315 branches in Türkiye with around 6,000 staff. By September of last year, those figures had fallen to approximately 80 branches and 2,000 employees, according to one of the sources.
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Türkiye has been a persistent trouble spot for the bank. Volatility in the Turkish lira and broader economic instability have weighed heavily on returns, and HSBC flagged rising expected loan losses in the country in its 2018 annual report.
A currency crisis that year slashed the lira's value by nearly 30 percent, triggering a brief but severe recession. Ankara responded with a series of regulatory measures aimed at stabilizing the currency and reviving growth, including tighter controls on the financial sector. For international banks operating in Türkiye, the combination of currency depreciation and regulatory tightening made profitability increasingly difficult to sustain.
The potential Türkiye exit is part of a broader strategic overhaul that Quinn is expected to unveil when the bank reports its annual results and new strategy on February 18. Quinn, who stepped into the interim CEO role, is effectively auditioning for the permanent position under Chairman Mark Tucker. Bank insiders have tipped him as the frontrunner, though the sources noted the role could still go to a surprise external candidate.
HSBC's pivot away from smaller, underperforming markets reflects a pattern that has reshaped international banking in recent years, as global lenders have retreated from countries where thin margins and local competition make it difficult to justify the cost of maintaining a presence.
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