HSBC Completes Keppel Acqn

HSBC Holdings PLC
18 February 2003

                 HSBC COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF KEPPEL INSURANCE

HSBC Insurance (Asia-Pacific) Holdings Limited has today completed its
acquisition of 100 per cent of Keppel Insurance Pte Ltd from Fortis Far East NV,
Keppel Capital Holdings Ltd and Kephinance Investment Pte Ltd. The aggregate
purchase consideration is S$154 million (approximately US$88 million) in cash.

Based on the latest available actuarial valuation of Keppel Insurance Pte Ltd
dated 14 July 2002 by NMG Financial Services Consulting Pte Ltd, the adjusted
net asset value and the value of business in force of Keppel Insurance Pte Ltd
on a fund segregated basis as at 31 December 2001 were S$83.7 million and S$45.7
million respectively.

Fortis and Keppel Capital Holdings each held an equity interest of 40 per cent
in the issued share capital of Keppel Insurance. Kephinance Investment had an
equity interest in the remaining 20 per cent of the issued share capital of
Keppel Insurance.

Paul Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation Limited in Singapore, said: "The acquisition gives HSBC a stronger
position in the local insurance market by providing us with an additional life
insurance and an Islamic insurance product range to deliver on the Group's
wealth management strategy in Singapore."

Keppel Insurance currently has approximately 55,700 individual life policies,
about 82,800 non-life policies and a tied agency sales force of approximately
220 qualified agents. It also offers non-life products and services to some
8,400 small to medium-sized enterprises in Singapore. The company has captured
an estimated 80 per cent of the investment-linked Islamic insurance (Takaful)
market in Singapore.

Keppel Insurance will be integrated with HSBC's insurance operations in
Singapore, which currently comprises general insurance business. The merged
operation will subsequently be renamed HSBC Insurance (Singapore) Pte Limited,
subject to regulatory approval.

Notes to editors:

1. Keppel Insurance - outgoing shareholders

Fortis Far East is a member of the Fortis Group, an international financial
services provider active in the fields of insurance, banking and investment.
Fortis is listed on the stock exchanges of Amsterdam, Brussels and Luxembourg
and has a sponsored ADR programme in the US.

Keppel Capital is a subsidiary of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, a
company listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.

Kephinance Investment is a subsidiary of Keppel Corporation Limited, a company
listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.

2. HSBC Group Insurance

The HSBC Group, through its insurance subsidiaries, provides insurance products
and services to both its retail and commercial banking customers. These
insurance products and services include life, protection and investment
business, property and casualty, insurance broking and consultancy, insurance
agency and alternative risk financing services. In 2001, insurance premiums
transacted worldwide by the HSBC Group amounted to US$7.7 billion.

3. HSBC in Singapore

The HSBC Group's history in Singapore dates back to 1877 when its founding
member, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, opened its first
branch. Today, HSBC has 11 branches incorporating five Premier centres and 23
automated teller machines in Singapore, including two at offsite locations. A
qualifying full bank, HSBC in Singapore offers a comprehensive range of services
including personal and commercial banking, investment and private banking,
insurance, forfaiting and trustee services, leasing and securities and capital
markets services.

4. HSBC Holdings plc

The HSBC Group is one of the world's largest banking and financial services
organisations. The Group has some 8,000 offices in 80 countries and territories
in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa,
and has assets of over US$746 billion at 30 June 2002.


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