Axa Group will pay about $494 million to acquire HSBC’s general insurance business in Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico based on the net asset values as of Dec. 31, the London-based bank said in a stock exchange filing. QBE Insurance Group Ltd. will pay about $420 million for HSBC’s general insurance business in Argentina and the general insurance unit of Hang Seng Bank Ltd., a 62 percent owned subsidiary of HSBC.

Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver has sold or closed 19 units at London-based HSBC since 2010 and is cutting 30,000 jobs to save as much as $3.5 billion by next year and revive profitability. HSBC, which earns most of its profit from Asia, has sold units in Japan and Thailand and in January agreed to sell operations in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras to focus on bigger markets in Latin America.

“Motor vehicle insurance, which is a major element of HSBC’s general insurance business, has low margins and volatile profitability,” Dominic Chan, an analyst at BNP Paribas in Hong Kong, said by telephone today. “The business isn’t in line with HSBC’s strategy of seeking to tap high-net-worth clients.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephanie Tong in Hong Kong at stong17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chitra Somayaji at csomayaji@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-07/hsbc-plans-to-sell-asia-latin-america-insurance-assets-for-914-million.html

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