HSBC MEXICO SUBSID ACQ'N

HSBC Holdings PLC
16 May 2003

           GFBITAL TO ACQUIRE 100% OF MEXICAN INSURANCE JOINT VENTURE

Grupo Financiero Bital, S.A. de C.V. (GFBital), a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings
plc, has reached agreement in principle to acquire the 49 per cent shareholding
in Seguros Bital currently owned by ING for US$148 million.

GFBital owns 51 per cent of Seguros Bital, a joint venture insurance business
established in 1998 when GFBital sold the 49 per cent stake to ING. ING has now
decided to exercise its option to sell the shareholding back to GFBital.

Seguros Bital is active in bancassurance, and is a multi-line insurance company
focused on the personal customer market. The company has approximately five
hundred employees, and more than one million clients. 2002 premiums totalled
approximately MXP1 billion, and 2002 net income was approximately MXP199
million.

GF Bital and ING will explore alternatives with a view to continuing certain
aspects of their existing co-operation in the insurance market in Mexico, such
as the sale of ING insurance products through GFBital branches.

It is anticipated that the transaction, which is subject to regulatory
approvals, will complete in the third quarter of 2003.

Notes to editors:

1. ING

ING Group is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking,
insurance and asset management to over 65 million private, corporate and
institutional clients in 60 countries.

2. GFBital

GFBital is one of the five largest banking and financial services institutions
in Mexico, with some 1,400 branches, 4,000 ATMs, and over 17,000 employees.

3. HSBC Holdings plc

With over 9,500 offices in 80 countries and territories and assets of US$759
billion at 31 December 2002, the HSBC Group is one of the world's largest
banking and financial services organisations.


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