The acquisition enabled HSBC to establish itself in one of the main European markets and to build a strong platform in the euro zone.

In 2002, HSBC sold its shares in Lombard Bank Malta to Swiss-based Banca Unione di Credito.

CCF also sold its 93.3 per cent stake in Crédit International d’Egypte (CIE), an Egyptian commercial bank listed on the Cairo Stock Exchange, to Crédit Agricole Indosuez (75%) and the El Mansour and El Maghraby groups (25%).

The move was expected to create "a modernized universal banking model" and provide "a new momentum to its European operations".

[3][4] In March 2021 it was reported that HSBC was in talks to sell its French retail division to Cerberus Capital Management.

[7] In 2010 the French government's Autorité de la concurrence (the department in charge of regulating competition) fined eleven French banks, including HSBC France, the sum of 384,900,000 Euros for colluding to charge unjustified fees on check processing, especially for extra fees charged during the transition from paper check transfer to "Exchanges Check-Image" electronic transfer.