Europe's leading banking group HSBC has plans to private-equity businesses as banks around the world are facing regulatory changes.

The potential regulatory pressure may limit the ownership of private-equity businesses or may increase the cost of owning such assets.

The London-based bank is likely to sell private-equity businesses Hong Kong, the US, the UK, Canada and the Middle East to their respective management teams. These five private-equity businesses have around $8.8 billion in funds, which accounts for around one-fifth of HSBC’s own money.

HSBC said it was discussing the matter with the management of HSBC Specialist Investments, but it did not disclose any financial terms of the potential deals.

Barclays and Citigroup are also preparing to spin off their private equity businesses, while Royal Bank of Scotland has already placed its buy-out unit in its "non-core" division, setting it aside for sale.