HSBC plans to grow its private banking activities in Germany by taking full control of its subsidiary HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt and transfer...

HSBC plans to grow its private banking activities in Germany by taking full control of its subsidiary HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt and transferring the bank's current unlimited liability structure to a limited liability corporation. HSBC currently own 73.5 per cent of the Düsseldorf-based bank, the other major shareholder is Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, the Stuttgart-based Landesbank, which owns 20.3 per cent. “With the legal change we will be strengthening our cooperation with HSBC, with which we have cooperated directly and indirectly for over twenty years in a spirit of mutual confidence and in partnership", said Andreas Schmitz, one of the senior partners of Trinkaus & Burkhardt. HSBC is expected to gain full control of the bank and use it as a platform to build a major German-wide private banking franchise. “The new legal form will strengthen the commitment of HSBC to Trinkaus & Burkhardt as strategic partner. On this basis the largest bank in Europe wants to develop its operational readiness in Germany,” said HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt in a statement. Earlier there had been some speculation in the German press that LBBW was interested in taking a larger stake in HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt. HSBC inherited its stake in the Düsseldorf bank in 1992 with its acquisition of the UK's Midland Bank.