HSBC has announced it will sell its Australian home loan portfolio to Blackstone and close all its branches in the region.

The resulting portfolio, worth 36 billion Australian dollars ($25 billion), will be held by Blackstone Credit & Insurance, Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, and Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval, and will see HSBC continue only its private and institutional banking services in Australia.

In a notice to its Australian customers, HSBC said that it will shutter all its retail banking branches in the region over the next 18 months and added that no immediate customer action is required.

A representative of the bank told the Guardian that as the sale is not yet approved, it cannot yet discuss job losses but added that most of its retail banking team would be retained throughout the closing period.

The firm currently has 2,000 employees across 20 branches in Australia.

Blackstone announced the consumer finance firm Pepper Money will act as the portfolio’s loan management partner and the two organisations will work on transitioning customers away from HSBC.

Dan Leiter, head of international for Blackstone Credit & Insurance, said: “International expansion is a major priority for our private credit business. Blackstone’s global credit platform, deep origination capabilities, and long-standing relationships position us to deliver unique value to clients around the world.

“This marquee investment is a testament to the power of our franchise and our conviction in the growing opportunities in credit across Asia.”

Since taking over as chief executive of HSBC in 2024, Georges Elhedery has aimed to streamline the bank’s operations. In 2025, HSBC cut costs by $1.2 billion and in February, Elhedery said it was “becoming a simple, more agile, focused bank built for a fast-changing world” and would meet its $1.5 billion savings goal six months early.

In May, HSBC sold its 6.6 billion Singapore dollars ($5.2 ​billion) International Wealth and Premier Banking offering in Indonesia to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp for the value of its assets plus a premium of up to a 480 million Singapore dollars ($373 million).

Last week, the bank also sold HSBC Life Singapore to insurance firm Allianz for 2.7 billion Singapore dollars ($2.1 billion).