Acquisition

HSBC Holdings PLC
6 November 2001


             HSBC COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF NRMA BUILDING SOCIETY

HSBC Bank Australia Limited has completed its acquisition of NRMA Building
Society Limited from NRMA Insurance Group Limited for A$138 million in cash,
which was met from internal resources from the HSBC Group.

The acquisition involves over A$2 billion in assets, including A$1.8 billion
of residential mortgages and approximately A$1 billion in customer deposits.
In addition, the building society business includes some 70,000 VISA credit
card accounts as well as personal and car loan customers.

Chris Crook, chief executive officer of HSBC in Australia, said: 'Acquiring
the building society has presented us with an immediate opportunity to expand
our lending book, diversify into new products and broaden our customer base.
It will also allow us to achieve greater cost efficiencies and benefit from
the already considerable investment that we have made in our business over the
last two years.

'The building society's customers will benefit from access to a greater range
of banking and financial services products, while our existing customers will
benefit from the introduction of a number of new products that we have not
previously offered.'

HSBC's personal financial services business operates through a network of 21
branches across Australia, including 24/7 automated and operator-assisted
telephone and Internet banking services.

Notes to editors:

1. The HSBC Group

Headquartered in London, the HSBC Group is one of the world's largest
international banking and financial services organisations with assets of
US$692 billion (A$1,365 billion) at 30 June 2001 and over 160,000 employees in
more than 6,500 offices in 78 countries and territories.

The HSBC Group has major personal, commercial, corporate and investment
banking and insurance businesses in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the
Americas, the Middle East and Africa.

2. HSBC in Australia

In Australia, the HSBC Group offers an extensive range of financial services
through a network of 34 branches and offices. These services include personal
and commercial financial services, trade finance, non-advisory stockbroking,
treasury and financial markets, funds management, electronic banking, and
investment advisory and securities custody.