HSBC gets leaner and meaner

HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver has an ambitious plan. He wants to cut annual costs by $3.5 billion by selling off non-core businesses and focusing on markets that promise growth.

As part of that plan, Europe’s biggest bank announced yesterday that it had agreed to sell some of its property and casualty insurance units in Asia and Latin America to French insurer Axa Group and Australia’s QBE Insurance Group for $914 million as it focuses on more profitable businesses.

Axa will pay $494 million for HSBC’s property and casualty insurance business in Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico. QBE will pay $420 million for HSBC’s property...