Foreign lender, HSBC is soon going to acquire the retail and commercial banking operations of Royal Bank of Scotland. But prior to this acquistion, the bank is set to receive license to open three branches in under banked areas of the country.

The acquisition is expected to reach completion by first half of 2011. RBS had acquired 31 branches of ABN Amro Bank but soon decided to keep only 5 of them and give out the rest to RBI.

"Of the 31 branch licences, RBS will retain five and surrender the remaining to RBI. Following which HSBC has applied for fresh licences and accordingly RBI will issue three branch licences to HSBC in under-banked areas,'' a source said.

"HSBC has begun consolidating the retail and small and medium enterprises business portfolio of RBS,'' said the source. "HSBC has wound down the unsecured loan business which includes the credit card and personal loan book. They are not sourcing fresh unsecured loans,''the source added.

"They continue to service the existing credit card clients. HSBC is keen on growing the Van Gogh preferred banking platform which is the private banking platform it will acquire from RBS,'' added the source.