HSBC to close Royal Bank of Scotland deal

Regulators' nods are the only impediment to HSBC's buying of RBS Asia units.

HSBC is close to sealing a deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland for its businesses in China, India and Malaysia.

After interested parties such as Standard Chartered and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group have been discouraged either by price, the regulatory hurdles or questions over the underlying quality of RBS's books in these countries, HSBC is left as the only natural buyer for what RBS is offering.

HSBC will likely use the potential acquisition to boost its presence in the three countries particularly in China, where it could add RBS's 10 retail branches to its existing 87 outlets.

According to a report in Wall Street Journal, HSBC has a goal of 120 branches in China by end-2010.