HSBC Bank Australia Disposal

HSBC Holdings PLC
15 December 2006


HSBC SELLS BROKER ORIGINATED RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE BOOK IN AUSTRALIA
                            TO FIRSTMAC

HSBC Bank Australia has entered into an agreement to sell its
broker originated residential mortgage book to FirstMac. The
portfolio consists of over 10,000 customer accounts with a total
book value of A$2.26 billion (approximately US$1.75 billion) at 22
November 2006.

HSBC retains the majority of its Australian residential mortgage
portfolio - a loan book of A$4.5 billion, representing HSBC's
direct customer relationships. HSBC Bank Australia will not be
accepting residential mortgage applications from brokers beyond 16
February 2007.

Stuart Davis, chief executive officer of HSBC Bank Australia, said:
"After a strategic review of our local operations earlier this
year, we have now disposed of non-core businesses and assets, and
are focused on investing in areas where we have a comparative
advantage. That advantage is HSBC's global network and the scale
and insight it provides, both in retail and corporate banking.

"To deliver the best value to our customers here, we need to invest
in business areas where our natural strengths lie. While
distributing through brokers has given our portfolio scale, it
precludes two of our greatest strengths - our service proposition
and the ability to cross-sell our products.

"FirstMac, a leading residential mortgage provider, is well placed
to support the broker relationships that we have developed in
recent years. We are confident it will provide our brokered loan
customers with the quality of products and support they are
accustomed to."

Notes to editors:
1. HSBC Bank Australia Limited
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, financial planning, trade finance, treasury
and financial markets, payments and cash management and securities custody.
Principal HSBC Group members operating in Australia include HSBC Bank Australia
Limited (ABN 48 006 434 162), HSBC Precious Metals (Australia) Limited (ABN 98
001 930 392), HSBC Bank plc (ABN 98 067 329 015) and The Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation (ABN 65 117 925 970). HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the
world's local bank'.

2. HSBC Holdings plc
HSBC Holdings plc serves over 125 million customers worldwide through some 9,500
offices in 81 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the
Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$1,738 billion at 30 June
2006, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services
organisations.

3. FirstMac
FirstMac Limited (ABN 59 094 145 963, AFSL 290600) is a 100 per cent
Australian-owned company and one of Australia's largest non-institutional
lenders of home mortgages, self-funding its business by issuing AAA-rated bonds
on global capital markets. FirstMac originally entered the home loan market in
1988 as a mortgage manager and originator to various third party funding
programmes. Since 2002, with the advent of the FirstMac residential
securitisation programme, FirstMac has increasingly self-funded its own mortgage
origination business while growing its presence through the provision of
wholesale funding to the Australian and US markets via a distribution network of
other originators. FirstMac has an Above Average S&P servicer rating.




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