Disposal

HSBC Holdings PLC
08 August 2006



                 HSBC SELLS AUSTRALIAN MARGIN LENDING PORTFOLIO
                               TO ST.GEORGE BANK

HSBC has sold its Australian margin lending portfolio to St.George Bank. The
book value of the portfolio was A$425 million (approximately US$324 million) at
31 July 2006.

St.George is the fifth largest banking group in Australia and is ranked one of
the top 15 publicly listed companies in Australia by market capitalisation. It
provides a full range of retail and business banking, and wealth management
services to more than 2.6 million customers nationally.

Stuart Davis, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank in Australia, said: "The sale
of our margin lending portfolio follows the recent disposal of HSBC
Stockbroking. The two were highly integrated, with HSBC Stockbroking carrying
out the administration for all our margin lending customers. St.George presented
an attractive offer and ensures our customers have access to award-winning
margin loan products.

"HSBC's strategy for growth in Australia continues to place emphasis on making
full use of the HSBC Group's strengths and participating in market opportunities
where we have a strong comparative advantage.

"Our recent agreement to acquire Westpac's sub-custody business illustrates this
clearly. Securities services is an area where we can leverage HSBC's regional
network and global efficiency, combining it with our local expertise to the
benefit of our sub-custody clients.

"We also continue to roll out our successful new consumer finance initiative to
major retail chains throughout Australia and to develop our corporate banking
business in areas such as project finance, trade finance, debt capital markets
and payments and cash management."

1. HSBC Holdings plc
The HSBC Group is one of the largest banking and financial services
organisations in the world. The Group has over 9,500 offices in 76 countries and
territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East
and Africa, serves over 125 million customers and has assets of US$1,738 billion
at 30 June 2006. HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the world's local bank'.

Further information can be found at www.hsbc.com

2. HSBC in Australia
In Australia, the HSBC Group offers an extensive range of financial services
through a network of 32 branches and offices. These services include personal
and commercial financial services, trade finance, treasury and financial
markets, financial planning and securities custody. Principal HSBC Group members
operating in Australia include HSBC Bank Australia Limited, HSBC Precious Metals
(Australia) Limited and HSBC Bank plc.

Further information can be found at www.hsbc.com.au

3. St.George Bank
St.George is Australia's fifth largest bank and one of the top 15 publicly
listed companies in Australia, with A$100 billion in assets, 2.6 million
customers and over 8,600 employees. Founded in 1937 as a housing-based financial
institution, St.George's national operations span all aspects of the financial
industry including retail banking, institutional and business banking and wealth
management.

Further information can be found at www.stgeorge.com.au




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange