Business & Tech

Fairfield HSBC Branch Among 195 Being Sold to First Niagara

HSBC plans to scale back its retail banking operations as part of broader business shift, it announced.

HSBC’s Fairfield branch is among 195 that the bank plans to sell to First Niagara.

The Fairfield location, on the Post Road, is on the block proposed for sale. It is among six in Fairfield County that are to be sold. Most of the locations up for sale are in upstate New York, according to the list of branches.

In a conference call Monday with reporters, First Niagara CEO John Koelmel called the Hudson Valley market expansion "a real sold base and foundation."

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The deal was announced last Sunday afternoon by HSBC, and is being done to scale back its retail banking operations and shift its priorities, according to its announcements of the transactions. In total, the deal is worth about $1 billion, or a 6.67-percent premium of the deposit value of the branches at stake, as of May 31, the bank announced. The total amount of deposits is about $15 billion, according to HSBC.

While HSBC announced that it expects the deal to close in early 2012, no firm dates for branches to change to First Niagara are set, it explained in a primer. Account holders at affected branches, including savings, checking, online banking and credit cards, will automatically see their services transferred to First Niagara once the transition is made.

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Koelmel expects divestitures of some western New York branches for anti-trust regulatory reasons, as well as some consolidations.

Regulatory approvals are still needed for the deal, according to HSBC.

To read the full list of stores being sold, click here.


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