Ottawa on Thursday approved the $10.2bn sale of HSBC’s assets to Royal Bank of Canada, more than a year after the UK-based, Asia-focused lender announced its exit from the market.
Finance minister Chrystia Freeland said the deal was subject to stringent conditions, including maintaining HSBC’s Canadian workforce, establishing a banking hub in Vancouver and raising its headcount in Manitoba province by 10 per cent.
RBC is also required to boost or maintain French, Mandarin and Cantonese language services.
HSBC, which was Canada’s seventh-largest lender, employs about 4,000 people in the country and provides banking to nearly 800,000 Canadians.