HSBC Bank (Panama) S.A. was a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc headquartered in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

, Panama. The bank provides

Personal banking Retail banking, also known as consumer banking or personal banking, is the provision of services by a bank to the general public, rather than to companies, corporations or other banks, which are often described as wholesale banking. Banking servi ...

Corporate banking Wholesale banking is the provision of services by banks to larger customers or organizations such as mortgage brokers, large corporate clients, mid-sized companies, real estate developers and investors, international trade finance businesses, ...

and

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...

services to Panama. In 2013

Bancolombia Bancolombia S.A. (also known as Grupo Bancolombia; formerly: Banco de Colombia) is a full-service financial institution that provides financial products and services in Colombia, Panama, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, the Cayman Islands The Ca ...

Group acquired HSBC Panama and renamed it as

Banistmo Banistmo is the largest bank in Panama and Central America. It was founded in 1984 as Primer Banco del Istmo before it became part of the HSBC Group following its former parent company, Grupo Banistmo's acquisition by HSBC in November 2006. It wa ...

History

The HSBC Group operated in Panama since 1972, when

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong K ...

opened the representative office in Panama City that year. Approval to operate as a licensed banking institution in Panama City was granted in 1973 and in the

Colón Free Trade Zone The Colón Free Trade Zone is a free port in Panama dedicated to re-exporting a wide variety of merchandise to Latin America and the Caribbean. It is located on the Caribbean coast, near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal, in the province ...

in 1993. HSBC Bank (Panama) was incorporated on 1999, consistent with the HSBC Group's strategy of creating the global brand, HSBC. In 2000, HSBC acquired the banking operations of

Chase Manhattan Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fi ...

in Panama. In 2005, HSBC acquired the group of companies trading under the brand name Financomer, which entered the personal lending market in Panama in 1986. In November 2006, HSBC acquired

Grupo Banistmo Grupo Banistmo was a Panamanian financial services company, and the largest in Central America. It was founded in 1984. In 1999 it began an expansion strategy that has resulted in the acquisition of banks in several Central American countries, as w ...

, the leading banking group in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and gave HSBC access to new markets, with offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

. The merger of HSBC Bank (Panama) and Grupo Banistmo was successfully completed in 2007. But the subsidiary of Grupo Banistmo,

Primer Banco del Istmo Banistmo is the largest bank in Panama and Central America. It was founded in 1984 as Primer Banco del Istmo before it became part of the HSBC Group following its former parent company, Grupo Banistmo's acquisition by HSBC in November 2006. It wa ...

, was retained until it merged into HSBC Bank (Panama) in 2009.

Central America banking

Costa Rica

Banco HSBC (Costa Rica) S.A. operates around 40 branches throughout the major cities. HSBC entered Costa Rica in the summer of 2007; it was introduced under the promotional campaign "HSBC is the new name of BANEX". HSBC acquired Banex and has assumed operations in all of its branches.

Banco Nacional de Costa Rica Banco Nacional de Costa Rica or BNCR is the largest commercial bank in Costa Rica and the second largest in Central America by assets. It has a 49% stake in Banco de Costa Rica International Limited (BICSA), incorporated with the Republic of Panam ...

(BNCR) and BAC San Jose (Grupo BAC) is HSBC's largest competitor in the market.

Colombia

HSBC Colombia S.A. acquired as part of the purchase of Grupo Banistmo SA in 2006.

External links

HSBC Bank (Panama) websiteHSBC Panama was sold to Bancolombia and operated under the name "Banistmo"List of Banks in Panama
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hsbc Bank Panama Banks of Panama

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

Companies based in Panama City

History

Central America banking

Costa Rica

Colombia

See also

External links