HSBC/Banca Euromobiliare

HSBC Holdings PLC
24 April 2002

                  BANCA EUROMOBILIARE ACQUIRES PART OF HSBC'S

                       PRIVATE BANKING ACTIVITY IN ITALY

A preliminary contract has been signed for the acquisition by Banca
Euromobiliare of part of the private banking operations of HSBC Bank plc in
Italy. The agreement is for the acquisition by Banca Euromobiliare of seven
offices in Como, Sondrio, Padova, Florence, Brescia, Turin and Bologna and
includes the transfer of 19 employees.

The seven branches have approximately Euro 9 million of customer deposits, Euro
22 million of customer lending and Euro 173 million of client funds under
management. The consideration for the sale has been agreed at Euro 200,000.

The final sale agreement will have to be authorised by Banca d'Italia, in
accordance with the requirement of law no. 287/90.

"For us the acquisition of branches of HSBC Bank plc, a company with whom we
share a genuine private banking culture, is first and foremost a good
investment," pointed out Paolo Caroli, Managing Director of Banca Euromobiliare,
"because it helps strengthen our position in the sector."

"Moreover," continued Caroli, "the operation makes it possible to strengthen
Banca Euromobiliare's presence in geographical areas where we are already
present and to set up offices in areas we had already identified in our
strategic plan."

In Italy, HSBC will continue to offer its existing range of private banking,
corporate banking, corporate finance, trade finance, treasury and capital
markets activities.

Alessandro Baroni, Chief Executive, HSBC Italy, said: "The sale forms part of
our strategy to concentrate our private banking activities in Italy through our
Milan and Rome offices, where we believe we can grow this business
significantly."

As part of the Credito Emiliano-Credem banking group, Banca Euromobiliare
currently distributes common investment funds managed by Euromobiliare Asset
Management Sgr and manages Credem International Lux, Templeton and Fleming's
SICAVs' direct investments. The bank manages eight asset management lines in
securities, four asset management lines in Euromobiliare funds and 10 asset
management lines in third party SICAVs. It also operates in the insurance sector
with five lines of unit-linked policies, life and accident insurance policies,
index linked policies and pension funds.

With some 7,000 offices in 81 countries and territories and assets of US$696
billion at 31 December 2001, the HSBC Group is one of the world's largest
banking and financial services organisations.


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