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The closure will affect approximately 50 staff members based in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The affected employees include those in treasury, finance, risk, legal departments, and a small team of corporate and institutional bankers. NAB stated it was too early to determine how many would be made redundant or offered roles in other regional offices. The wind-down process is expected to take roughly 18 months, with a full closure planned for early 2025.
NAB’s decision to pull out from Hong Kong follows Westpac’s exit in June 2023. Westpac closed its branch after being fined by Hong Kong authorities for breaching anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism rules. With both NAB and Westpac exiting Hong Kong this year, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTC:CMWAY) (CBA) and ANZ remain as the two Australian banks with a presence in the region.
Krista Baetens, a Singapore-based NAB executive, mentioned that the bank remains committed to Asia. The branches in Singapore, Tokyo, and Shanghai are seen as key customer outreach hubs in the region with the capability to support the Hong Kong customer base.
Despite the closure announcement, NAB saw its share price increase by more than 1% in Sydney trade on Thursday, closing at 29.31 Australian dollars ($18.85).
In recent months, leading Australian lenders including NAB, Westpac, and CBA have been looking to cut up to 300 jobs each, as per the Australian Financial Review. ANZ, on the other hand, maintains the strongest footprint in Asia among the big four Australian banks, with 300 bankers in China, 1,000 in Singapore, and 300 staff in Hong Kong.
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